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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29771850">I don't believe in fairies, I believe in YOU.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freddia/pseuds/Freddia'>Freddia</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Actor RPF, Fate: The Winx Saga (TV), Lady Chatterley's Lover (2015), Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF, Robin Hood (2018), Rocketman (2019) RPF, Teen Wolf (TV) RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fantasy, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:09:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>31,796</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29771850</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freddia/pseuds/Freddia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It happened a long time ago in a small village in the middle of the forest. Two best friends, and many legends. Old hunters said that fairies, water nymphs and elves lived there, but of course Richard didn't believe in any of that... did he?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Froy Gutierrez/Richard Madden, Taron Egerton/Richard Madden</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This story is going to be crazy!!, it's the result of watching "Robin Hood", "The winx saga" and "Lady Chatterley's lover" in the same week. Also to see pictures of Froy and his inexplicable and superb beauty. All the feelings for their first anniversary, and missing them so much!</p>
<p>Thank you to my dear friend @drinkingstars for always helping me.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Richard threw his last piece of wood into the fireplace. It was undoubtedly the most difficult time of the year.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard, a strong and handsome man, already had some white streaks mixed in his hair, but he was still young and desired by many girls of the village. But the only thing he wanted was to be able to survive the winter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He went out to his back garden, a spacious place where he grew different fruits and vegetables to sell in the village market.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was nothing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Something bad was happening in the ground. The seeds were taking too much time to open, and the winter wouldn’t help at all. It had been a week since he could have anything to sell at the market.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took several pieces of wood and brought them home to use overnight, and he realized he had nothing for dinner. He didn't even have a few coins to go buy something small, maybe a rabbit from the hunters.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had no choice but to do something he hated: go hunting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took his old bow and some arrows. They were almost rotten already, as it had been a long time since he had hunted his own food. He hated having to kill an animal in order to survive. A life for another life didn’t seem like a good deal.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tied his old boots, threw the old cloak over his back, and took a deep breath before leaving.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard opened the door and almost died when he saw a poor skinned rabbit hanging in front of him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Surprise!" said a cheerful voice behind the body.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Damn it, Taron" he yelled "You almost scared me to death."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh no, I'm so sorry," he apologized "I'm just happy that I was able to steal this rabbit from the mayor's cart, and I thought you could make better use of it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Why do you keep stealing?" Richard asked, entering the house again. “I thought you got a job with the carpenter.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Old ways never die," Taron replied, entering behind him. "It's easier than hunting in that haunted forest."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But you are a hunter, you are always in the forest."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, I know, but I still think it's haunted. The last time we were there with the other hunters, yesterday actually, I can swear I saw one of those naughty little elves, and I shot an arrow at him, but ... they are fast."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"There are no elves, Taron ... they don’t exist."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Of course they exist!" he replied, almost angry. "Also fairies and water nymphs ... that's why I'm not a fisherman. You know many have died in the lake!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard took a deep breath and drew a smile on his beautiful face, it was useless to have this stupid conversation that would get them nowhere. "Thank you," he finally said, gratefully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know you don't like to eat animals, but ..." Taron said. "From the forest I can see your garden, and the harvest is not going well."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It will get better."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You haven't been to the market in a week, and winter is coming."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'll be fine," Richard shrugged.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Maybe ... maybe I can speak to Mr. Furnish," Taron suggested.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, your girlfriend's boss? The baker you used to steal from?" Richard said, rudely, he knew.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"She is not my girlfriend."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well, that's what the whole village thinks"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard looked at his old friend…sometimes more than a friend, in the past. His face looked beautiful lit by the fire in the fireplace, making his green eyes and blond hair shine.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You did the right thing," said Richard. "The village was ... talking."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Maybe you should do the same," Taron said, helpfully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No ... I prefer to grow old and be the crazy unmarried man in town," Richard said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I’m so sorry, Richard."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You already told me you’re sorry, Taron ... many times."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You know that I ..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thanks for the rabbit," Richard stopped him. "I owe you one."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm happy to help you," Taron said, approaching him, closer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Right ... thanks." Richard stepped away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The tension with Taron was unbearable, even though they had decided to continue as friends. There were no hard feelings. They had fun and that was it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Drinking that lukewarm wine hadn't been a good idea, but it was all he had… and what he needed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Luckily the cold of the night oxygenated his brain a bit as he walked through his garden.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Not even a fucking carrot," he said, stepping on a small sprout that would probably be dead the next morning.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suddenly, he heard a noise through the trees, very close to the wires that separated his garden from the forest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hello?" he said, waiting for an answer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He began to walk slowly, being very careful. It would not be the first time that he went out to see his harvest and came across some animals.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Who's there?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was already very dark, it was very cold, and he didn’t bring his lamp to light the way. Yet, as he was getting closer and closer he could make out a shadow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It didn't appear to be an animal. It didn't move like an animal.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Need help?" Richard asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Only the light of the moon lit Richard’s path. It was a clean cold night, and he felt so weird, like the very air around this creature was strange.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was definitely not an animal, it was a person, a little person, maybe a child. His body was on the floor wrapped in a large cloak, he seemed to want to get up but something was preventing him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are you injured?" Richard asked from the other side of the wires.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The small person raised his head, listening to his question. He was the most beautiful being Richard had ever seen in his life. The moonlight was enough to see his blue eyes, his pale skin, fine blond hair under his hood, and a few freckles on his nose.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Don't be afraid," Richard said, coming to his side. "I won't hurt you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The boy was breathing nervously, as he was clearly scared. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard had never seen him in the village. "You're not from here, are you?" he asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The boy only responded by shaking his head in a negative way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are your parents here?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The young man said no again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What's wrong?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The mysterious young man opened his cloak, revealing part of his body, and Richard could see a broken arrow stuck in his ankle. He was bleeding. Some roots and vines coming out of the ground had wrapped around his leg, and for that reason he couldn’t move.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Who did this to you?" Richard asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The young man didn’t answer him, but he could feel his fear. Richard took his little knife out of his pocket and began to cut the roots around his leg. That wound didn't look good, and his white skin was looking a little purple.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He needed to heal him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'll take you to my house, okay?" he told him. "I have medicines there to help you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The young man said nothing, and Richard took him into his arms, as if he was carrying a child or an injured animal. Their faces were very close, and Richard felt that strange air again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you," said the young man.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, so you can speak," he replied, smiling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The young man smiled too and Richard felt his body relax as he started walking home.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What's your name?" he asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Froy…" he replied shyly, almost in a whisper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That is a strange name, I have never heard it ... beautiful name."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It’s from my kingdom."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Kingdom? wow, did I find a wounded prince in the forest?" Richard joked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Prince?" Froy asked, confused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Ah, doesn't matter ... I'm Richard, it's not a fancy name like yours, but I like it fine."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I like it too, Richard."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard took one last look at him in the moonlight before entering his house, and affirmed for himself that this was the most beautiful person he had ever seen in his life.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The young man was wrapped in his cloak even though the house felt cozy and warm from the fire.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Have you eaten?" Richard asked. "I still have some rabbit stew and some potatoes."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't eat animals," Froy replied, seriously.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Me neither ... at least I try not to," Richard said, sitting down on the couch next to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The men of this village are always hunting in the forest."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"They do it to survive."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's not only that... they also destroy the trees and make bonfires in our soil," Froy said, angrily.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Where do you live?" Richard asked, genuinely curious.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"In the forest ... on the other side of the forest."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That village is even smaller than this one,” Richard recalled. “Sometimes I would cross the forest to sell my vegetables there, but lately it is dangerous to cross.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Why?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well ... there are groups of hunters, some of them are also thieves ... or worse," he said. "It’s not safe to cross with valuable goods, at least not alone."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I could eat some vegetables," Froy said hopefully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh ... I’m sorry ... my garden should be full of fruits and vegetables outside, but it's been a bad season."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What happened?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Nothing has grown ... at least not yet," Richard said. "I'll bring you some potatoes, and something to heal your wound."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A few minutes later, Richard examined the wound while the young man ate his simple boiled potatoes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"How curious ..." he said. "It looked like a really serious injury when I saw it out there."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"There was not much light," Froy offered an explanation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, I suppose you're right ..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard was still surprised. It seemed that the young man's body had pushed out the arrow on its own, he didn't even have to pull it out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have this ointment and some bandages. I think it will be enough to prevent infection, although… it would already be infected. Anyway…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So strange, that young man's skin was the softest and most delicate thing he had ever touched.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Those are </span>
  <em>
    <span>Araucania</span>
  </em>
  <span> leaves" Froy said, it wasn’t a question.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh… I don't know, I think so. A friend gave them to me when I injured my hand."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That will be enough," Froy said, taking the leaves delicately.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The leaves have already dried, I’m afraid. I hope they still work."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you have some roots?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Roots? What for?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Or… something to tie around my leg."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh ... I have a piece of cloth that will work, a bed sheet ..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard went to get the piece of cloth, but he was still wondering why the young man would think to use dry leaves and roots to heal his wound.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I think this should do it..." Richard said, before he froze at what he saw happening in front of him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The strange young man was crushing the dry leaves in his fist, and somehow, some inexplicable reason, the drops of liquid from the leaves were falling on his wound. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>How was that even possible? The leaves were dry, they had crumbled in Richard’s hand...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Is it what you were hoping for?" Richard asked, bewildered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Yes, here let me have..." Froy took the strips of cloth to cover his wound and tied it with a knot. "Thank you," Froy said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard still could barely react to what he had seen, so he just smiled at the strange boy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Does it bother you if I rest for a few hours?" said Froy. "I'll go with the first rays of the sun."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah, of course ... not safe to go out now, you were lucky to be in one piece when I found you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard wanted to continue talking, wanted to ask how he had done to get liquid from a couple of dry leaves. He wanted to know why his skin was so perfect and smooth. Why his eyes were brighter than the sun.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But it would have to be in the morning.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Have a nice rest,” Froy said sweetly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard lay down nearby. “You as well,” he said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His house was very humble and small, no walls between them. His bed and his couch were very close. He tried to stay awake, still contemplating the delicate features of that young man, so beautiful and mysterious, but there was something stronger than him, something that he couldn’t control and that ended up immersing himself in the deepest of dreams.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The loud knocks on his wooden door woke him up. He had a horrible headache, and he felt dizzy and confused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm coming ..." Richard said, walking erratically to the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Fuck ..." said Taron, grinning in front of him. "I almost forgot how much I like hearing you say that."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Idiot,” Richard mumbled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good morning to you too,” Taron sneered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What do you want?" he asked, annoyed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bad morning, I see… well. My mother sends me with a list of vegetables, she wants me to choose the best ones before you take the lot to the market."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What?" Richard asked, confused. "What are you talking about? You know I don't have any damn vegetables, nothing has grown in this whole crop."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Richard ... are you okay?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Of course I'm okay! You are the one who is not okay and you come here to ask me for produce when you know very well that nothing has grown for months."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What are you talking about, Richard!?" Said Taron, confused. "Your orchard is one of the biggest in the village...”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Taron stop playing, I’m tired...”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Look, I don't know what's wrong with you today... or what you gassed, but come with me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron started to walk through his house, toward the back door. "Where do you think you are going?" Richard stopped him by the arm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What the hell is wrong with everyone today, Richard?" Taron asked, shaking Richard loose. "The whole damn village woke up stupid, I swear."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron pushed the door open and pointed out into the garden. Richard grumbled, stepping past him and into the outdoors, and couldn't believe what he saw.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tomates, carrots, potatoes, lettuce, onions, bell peppers, pumpkins, beets, even a huge lemon tree full of fruit, that he didn't know existed here.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bloody hell,” Richard said, slowly looking around.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“See, I told you,” said Taron. “My mom sends you the two silver coins and an invitation to dinner. My stepfather killed a large deer, but I know you don't eat animals."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard took the coins, but his head was still spinning, he had never seen such a beautiful orchard, and for it to grow overnight...was impossible.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Froy ..." he whispered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Had it all been a dream? That strange young man had really existed? That still didn't explain what else was going on...the explosion of vegetables in his garden, Taron not remembering that there wasn't even a damn carrot yesterday...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked at the couch where Froy had slept, and the piece of cloth he had tied to him. It was clean, but smelled like damp soil, like the woods at night. Froy had been real, he had to be real. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard was too young to be this crazy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"So ..." said Taron, entering the house with a bag full of his vegetables. "What do I tell my mom? Will you come to dinner?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No ... I don't think I can go. Tell her it will be better at another time, I don't feel well."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you want me to stay with you today? Or I could take you to see the doctor?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No, that won't be necessary. I'm just a little disoriented, that's all."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are you sure?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, I'll be fine."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Ok ... if you need anything I'll be in the woodshop all day," Taron said, opening the door "Oh, by the way ... how was the rabbit last night?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh ...so you remember the rabbit?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron looked at him strangely. “Yeah, of course.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It was ... very tasty, I made a stew with potatoes"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Delicious," he replied with a smile. "Well, try to get some rest."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, I will. Thanks."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His friend left and he was still disoriented, he had to go out to his garden again, looking at all the wonderful fruits and vegetables. He couldn’t believe it, it had been a miracle ... if only Richard believed in those kind of things.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But ... what else had that been? What had Froy really been?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard decided to clean himself up and wear the best clothes he had. He selected the best vegetables and filled three wicker baskets to go sell at the market. He couldn’t allow his confusion about the events to prevent him from earning some good money.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Good morning, Mrs. Phill," Richard greeted the elderly woman who always sold the nicest woolen clothing that she knitted herself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh Richard, it's so good to see you," she said kindly "My husband wants one of those pumpkins that only grows in your garden."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well ... here's a pretty big one," Richard showed her. "Tell Mr. Phill it's a gift from me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh no, not at all young man," said the woman. "Here is your coin ... and this wool sweater. You’ll need it, winter is already here."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you, Mrs. Phill," he said, touching the soft wool.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard quickly sold his three baskets of vegetables, and both his pockets were full of coins. He stopped by to buy some eggs, milk and bread, and of course Old John's pantry to buy a bottle of whiskey, he was happy and wanted to party.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He returned home when the sun had already set. Mrs. Phill's gift had kept him warm until he made himself comfortable and lit the fireplace, while he decided what he was going to eat that night. It seemed like a dream, to think about and choose what he wanted to eat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suddenly something caught his eye.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The pot over the window held the </span>
  <em>
    <span>thistle</span>
  </em>
  <span> plant that his mother had given him, and he had neglected, leaving it to almost die. It was now alive and well, in all its glory, its flowers so purple they looked like jewels, and its thorns spiked like deadly swords.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How?” he whispered to himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Two knocks on the wooden door startled him, but he saw it was just Taron when he opened it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sorry to bother you again," Taron said. "I just wanted to see how you’re doing."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You didn’t bother me… come in."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Wow!" Taron exclaimed when he saw the thistle too. "Your mom's plant looks amazing … in full bloom in winter?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What's in the box?" Richard asked, trying to divert the topic of conversation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh ...I brought some cookies from the bakery," he said, extending the gift box. "You know that an hour before closing it only costs a coin?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You stole it, I get it," Richard rolled his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He puts them in front of the open window!" Taron explained "It's his fault..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I wonder what your girlfriend will say if she finds out that you steal where she works," Richard said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"She’s not my girlfriend, I already told you," Taron insisted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sure..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, come on. Don't do this to me, I didn't have a good day today,” Taron said. “I worked all day, I couldn't go to the forest to hunt, and I hit my finger with a hammer… look!” he told him, showing Richard the bandaged thumb.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thanks for the cookies," Richard said, frowning.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I was thinking..." said Taron, moving closer to him. "Maybe we could eat them together?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard knew he was up to something.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't think it's a good idea," Richard replied.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I miss you, though," Taron said sadly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We see each other every day, Taron. We are friends."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We </span>
  <em>
    <span>are</span>
  </em>
  <span> friends..." Taron said suggestively.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Exactly," Richard stated firmly. "We will just hurt each other again."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm sorry… it's this damn cold winter," Taron said as an excuse for his behavior, laughing at it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Winter, of course..." Richard replied, laughing it off too. Their eyes met, and Richard looked into Taron’s, just a short distance away, shining with memories, passion, and a bit of sadness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"My intention was never to hurt you," Taron confessed. "I would never hurt you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know your intentions are good," Richard replied. "I know you, you are a good person, Taron."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron closed the distance and placed a kiss on his cheek, right on his soft beard, very close to his lips. The contact made his body tense. He did miss it, someone else's body pressing against his, and it had been a long time. But he knew his desires were not accepted by society. He had already given up on that, and on Taron.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Good night then," Taron said, his eyes filling with tears.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Goodnight, my friend."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard sighed as Taron left. He was alone again, only accompanied by the sound of wood burning in the fire, and the strong beating of his heart.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But suddenly he heard another sound, a different sound, coming from outside. It came from his garden.</span>
</p>
<p>_</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>"What are you?..."</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Richard looked out the window, but couldn't see anything. It was already very dark. He took his lamp and lit it, growing the flame to illuminate his path.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He ventured out into his garden, and there he could see him, right in the middle of his miraculous vegetables. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard doubted for a moment that it was the mysterious young man named Froy, the figure was a little intimidating, tall and shadowy, like a strong adult.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He got closer little by little, as he walked toward the figure, that hadn’t moved from his position. As he stood in front of him and raised the lamp, for some strange reason he wasn’t afraid. He felt an incredible and irrepressible curiosity...then his breathing completely stopped.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Standing in front of him was the same young man from the night before, but he didn’t look like a scared child. He was now a confident and beautiful young man, the most beautiful he had ever seen. He was wearing a dark green hooded cloak, similar to the colour of the leaves of the trees illuminated by the moonlight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His skin was perfect and pale, his full lips formed a gentle smile, and his blue eyes were shining like two stars.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn't be human.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Wonderful orchard you have," said Froy. His voice sounded like a beautiful song.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You did this?" Richard asked, disbelieving.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy bowed his head. "It's in gratitude for helping me last night."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"How is your wound?" Richard looked down and could see Froy barefoot, his dirty feet on the ground, and the skin on his leg was absolutely clean. There was no trace of an arrow wound, not even a scratch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What are you?" Richard asked, baffled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy took his hands from his cloak and brought them up to his head, dropping the hood.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard felt a sinking sensation when he saw Froy’s ears, a little larger than human ears, the tips pointed like an arrow, emerging from his blond hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard was speechless.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I’m in eternal debt to you," Froy said. "Last night I was very weak, and you helped me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You… I thought you looked like a kid last night," Richard finally spoke.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Trust me, I'm exactly the same as last night," Froy explained. "Sometimes, I need to adopt a helpless, human appearance to protect myself. It was not my intention to deceive you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Protect you?" Richard asked, not understanding.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"From the humans."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are you ... an elf?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy smiled revealing his snow-white teeth, perfect, adorable. "I'm not one of those pesky creatures!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm sorry…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I’m a fairy."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Fairy?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I was born in the forest, from the forest, long ago. I’m one of his guardians."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But ..." Richard said, confused. "I always thought that the forest fairies were little creatures that flew and lit up the night."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I think you mean fireflies," Froy said with a smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard felt stupid.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We are just stories, legends," Froy explained. "Those who claim to see us are treated as crazy, like people who have lost their minds. That protects us from discovery."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard remembered the things Taron told him: the elves, the water nymphs… the fairies. He should apologize to his friend the next time he sees him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you," Richard said, it was the only thing he could think of. “For my garden.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're welcome," Froy replied, kindly. "You seem to have harvested a lot already..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have sold a lot of them. The coins will help me survive the winter."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy carefully knelt in front of him and placed his hands on the ground. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard watched, speechless again, as tendrils came out from inside the earth, waving and whipping about as if they were thin snakes that had a life of their own. These tendrils turned into roots, became more thick and firm, and multiplied, developing small green fruits that grew second by second until they became a huge round tomato, juicy and red as blood.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy wasn't just any fairy… he must be an extremely powerful forest fairy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In just a few minutes his garden was full of new vegetables again, as if he hadn't plucked any at all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was no word to describe what Froy had just done, not even magic, or miracle, or fantasy, there was simply no word or logical explanation to explain what this fairy could do. But it seemed now that Froy couldn’t rise from the ground, and Richard saw him like the night before: small and helpless, wrapped in his cloak.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Froy, Froy ..." Richard asked, kneeling in front of him. "Are you okay?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I will be," he replied. "Just give me a little time..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No, no ... come here," Richard said, taking him in his arms and leading him into his house.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard didn't know what fairies ate, so he did what he would do with any mortal human: give them sugar.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Eat these cookies," he told him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy was sitting on the couch like the night before, but he looked more relaxed. He had removed his hood, and was only wearing pants of the same dark green color, and a shirt similar to the one Richard was wearing. He looked like a completely normal young man… except for his ears.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm fine, really," Froy said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm not sure what fairies eat," Richard confessed, sitting down next to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy grinned. "Human men."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard couldn't hide his panic from Froy's intense gaze, but suddenly the fairy began to laugh out loud. "Oh, your face!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you think you are very funny?" Richard asked. "My heart almost stopped."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I eat the same as you," Froy explained, smiling at Richard’s reaction. "I really like honey and fruits."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well that's a relief."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy was curious and hungry, and took one of the cookies from the box. "Oh!" Froy exclaimed. "These are delicious."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They both sat there, eating cookies in front of the fire, almost like one of those romantic dates Richard sometimes saw people having in the village. The thought made Richard realize he was extremely attracted to Froy, a gorgeous young man, radiant, funny and beautiful. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So…” Richard started, trying to get those thoughts out of his head. “How did you make my vegetables grow like that? Nothing has grown on my soil for months."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"There were many seeds, hidden under the ground," Froy explained. "Some were there even before you were born."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, that explains the lemon tree," Richard said, understanding a little bit. "I never planted one, never seen one here."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's all full of rose roots down here," Froy said, wiggling his bare feet on the ground.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, wow," Richard said, surprised. He watched as the roots came out from under the ground and quickly formed a beautiful bush, full of red roses, right before his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"They're beautiful," he said, trying to touch one, but its thorns pushed him away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Be careful," Froy warned. "These roses have a very strong personality, especially the red ones."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fairy cut a rose for him, before the plant disappeared in the same way it had appeared before.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard could feel the heat on his cheeks, his heart was pounding, and his hands were shaking when he took the rose that Froy was giving him. "Thank you," he said, ashamed as he had never felt before.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What are you thinking about?" asked Froy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Can't you read my mind?" Richard asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm not that kind of fairy."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are there other types of fairies?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Come on, tell me," Froy said, smiling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You are so ... beautiful," he confessed, worried that it was going to scare Froy away, but the fairy was still there, watching him with sparkling eyes and a sweet smile. "I'm sorry..." Richard said, embarrassed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why sorry?” Froy asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You are </span>
  <em>
    <span>so</span>
  </em>
  <span> young."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's just my physical appearance," he explained. "The truth is that I saw this village born from my forest. I was here long before any of it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You must hate the humans..." Richard said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No ... not everyone," Froy admitted. "But the truth is that you are the first one who is not afraid of me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They were so close… and Richard didn't know what to do. He was beautiful, he looked like a gorgeous young human man, but he wasn't, he wasn't human.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I ... I'm going to put this rose in water," Richard said, trying to escape the situation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard got to his feet, but he couldn't even take a step forward. The rose roots had come back out from under the ground and tangled around his ankles, holding him in place, preventing him from walking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy stood in front of him. "I can give you all the roses you want."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The roots regrew, the red roses returned, their thorns too, but this time it was a massive bloom. Roses filled his whole little house from floor to ceiling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy put one of his hands on Richard's chest, feeling his heart. "I always wanted to touch a human man," he confessed. "I've never been so close to one before ... one who doesn't want to hurt me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard raised his hand to caress Froy's cheek. "I will never hurt you, and I won't allow any other man to do it either," he promised, and a moment later he ventured to put his lips on Froy’s.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fragrant smell of the roses around them heightened all sensations. Froy explored his body, touching his chest, his arms, and his back. Richard deepened the kiss, savoring Froy’s mouth like a very sweet fruit that didn't exist in the real world.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No one has ever kissed me before," Froy confessed when they finally parted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It’s my honor to be the first," Richard said shyly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy flung himself to his lips again, more confident this time, more desperate, more passionate. Richard welcomed him back into his arms and gave him everything he was looking for ... and more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard began to explore his body too, but in a more lascivious way, squeezing his ass and stroking the prominent bulge between his legs. Everything seemed to be the same under his clothes— he was just a man like him, but wonderfully different at the same time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"This feels so good," Froy moaned against his lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It can feel better," Richard said, feeling brave.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Show me," Froy demanded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I would love to, but I can't seem to walk..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes you can," Froy smiled. "Don't worry about the roses, they won't hurt you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy reached for Richard and demanded his lips again. Richard shifted with him, a little fearfully, but the thick stems of the bushes moved aside for him every time he took a step.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They fell onto the bed, and Froy was desperate beneath his body. Richard smiled, remembering when he had discovered all those delicious sensations too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm going to take your clothes off now," Richard said. "You can do the same with mine."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fairy didn’t respond, he only took action by stripping him of each of his garments.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard couldn't help staring at Froy’s naked body. Curious, expectant, as if he were searching for something that didn't exist. The fairy unclothed was just like a handsome and strong man. His shoulders were broad and his chest well formed, his flat stomach was exquisitely adorned with thin blond hair that ended in a promising erection.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Wow ..." exclaimed Richard, looking him over. "You are divine."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You too," Froy whispered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I’m just a man," Richard said. "You are a magical, extraordinary creature."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But I’m also a man," Froy said urgently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What do you mean?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Not now, Richard," Froy pleaded, almost begging. "Now I just want to feel everything..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Of course, Richard wasn't going to refuse. He attacked Froy's lips, and then continued to worship every bit of that perfect pale skin as he listened to him sigh and moan.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His legs were muscular and strong, and he couldn't help but bite the insides of his thighs. "Oh, that feels good," Froy sighed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"This will feel even better," Richard said, finally trying his hand at that beautiful and perfect fairy dick. Froy's body twisted deliciously on the bed. "Are you okay?" Richard asked with a smile. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Don’t stop!" the fairy screamed, tangling his fingers in Richard’s hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard was very happy to be so privileged a person, to be the first in Froy's life to give him such pleasure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can't breathe," Froy warned. "Something's happening..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard watched him, nervous, but then he could see his flushed cheeks, his bright eyes and his hair in a mess… he was getting close.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Don't be afraid, it's a good thing," Richard told him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy was shaking, clinging to the sheet, and moaning shamelessly as he experienced his first orgasm that Richard knew he would never forget.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh Richard," Froy moaned, clutching his body in a tight hug. "That felt so good."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It can feel even better," Richard promised again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"How is that possible?" Froy asked. "Nothing can feel better than this."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Can I do something now?" he said "It might hurt a little at first, but it’s good, really good."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Show me," Froy said, nodding.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard brought one of his fingers to his mouth to wet it and then guided it toward Froy's entrance. "Try to relax," Richard said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I am relaxed," Froy assured.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know, beautiful," he told him, kissing him to distract him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy didn't seem to complain. He accepted his finger inside him with a gesture of surprise and pleasure, and then another, moaning. "Do it already," he demanded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don’t want to hurt you..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You won't," he said. "I just want to feel you inside me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard kissed him hard, making his way between his legs, directing his erection toward his entrance. "Tell me if it hurts and I'll stop," he warned.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Just kiss me, a lot."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard obeyed and penetrated him so slowly, so carefully, although Froy never told him to stop, he hadn't even shown any expression of discomfort.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are you okay?" Richard asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes," Froy replied with a smile. "And you?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I've never been better," Richard sighed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I told you to kiss me," Froy whispered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sorry ..." Richard began to move again but without taking his lips away from Froy's.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The two achieved such a deep intimacy that they felt like the only people in the world. Each part of their skin was in contact with the other in a perfect dance of caresses, kisses and moans.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You were right," said Froy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"About what?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"This feels so much better."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard smiled "I told you so."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Kiss me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Come here ..." Richard said, shifting position, sitting up on the bed, and pulling Froy onto him. "Now move until you find your special point."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Special point?" Froy asked, confused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, that's what it’s called. It’s inside you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"How will I know that I have found it?" Froy asked, moving curiously.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, beautiful fairy ... you will know," Richard laughed. He kissed him again and moaned into his mouth as Froy began to move over him. Richard was getting close, but he didn't want to come yet, he just wanted Froy to enjoy this first time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy's movements were a bit awkward and clumsy, until he was able to achieve a steady, smooth rhythm. "Oh, Richard!" he moaned. "I think...there it is."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Keep doing that movement," Richard ordered him, taking Froy’s hard cock again and stroking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It feels so good..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Kis .." Froy asked, but he couldn't finish saying the word. Richard kissed him lustfully, licking and biting his lips, unable to postpone his coming for much longer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His orgasm was loud and hard. The fairy's body was covered in sweat, and his skin seemed to glow in the moonlight coming through the window.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I didn't think my body could feel those things," he said, resting in Richard's arms. "It felt better than eating apple with honey"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard laughed, he hadn't laughed like that in a long time, because it had been a long time since he felt that way too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Is it normal that I want to do it again?" asked the fairy, curious.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh yeah ... it's quite normal," Richard replied, covering Froy’s body with the blanket "You will want to do it all the time."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But I'm also tired."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That's normal too," Richard said with a smile. "It would be best to rest for now," But when Richard looked back at him, the fairy was already fast asleep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He spent the next few minutes contemplating everything about him, that supernatural and wonderful creature. He had so many questions, so many doubts, so many things that he wanted to know about him. He wanted to know everything ... but what they had just done was intense, and he soon allowed himself to be overcome by sleep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>-</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Froy was more powerful than Richard could have ever imagine.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much to @drinkingstars for beta reading, she's just too amazing!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Richard’s arms and his bed were empty when he woke up with the sun. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Froy?" he called out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fairy was no longer there. Neither were his clothes or the hundreds of roses that had flooded his house the night before.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe he should get used to that, Richard thought. Maybe Froy was a nocturnal creature, maybe the sun damaged his beautiful skin… there were so many things he didn't know.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The only thing he knew was that a new day was waiting for him outside. The sun was shining brightly, but it was still very cold. He washed up in his garden and then went in for breakfast, he hadn't had a decent breakfast in weeks. He also counted the coins he had earned yesterday, finding he had plenty for himself, for once.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He went to the market with four more baskets of vegetables, and thought to himself that if he could sell them all, maybe he should buy some new sheets for his bed, and some nice new clothes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Let me help you with that," Taron said, showing up at his side.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you, my friend."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You look radiant this morning," Taron complimented him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you, you too ... where are you going?" Richard asked, seeing that his friend was armed with his bow and arrows hanging on his back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The mayor holds a dinner tomorrow night, with guests who come directly from the palace."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wow…” Richard muttered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes. Whatever business they come to do, I hope is good for the village," he said. "But, he paid us to go to the forest to hunt some deer, rabbits, and maybe a moose."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Really? So much food. How many people will come?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have no idea, but you know how ostentatious that buffoon is. He won't notice if a rabbit or two is missing. We have hungry children in our village."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Be careful, okay?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know that forest like the back of my hand", Taron boasted. “Do you want me to bring you a rabbit? Or if I see any vegetables that don’t grow in your garden? Perhaps I’ll find a fairy...you can keep it in a jar to illuminate your house,” Taron laughed. He was in a bright mood it seemed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard had to laugh too, for different reasons. Taron had some very weird ideas about fairies. But then only Richard knew what they were really like, eating honey on apples, and moaning his name. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm fine, thanks," he assured him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron pulled a carrot out of his basket and bit into it before starting to walk into the woods. "Don't miss me too much," he told him, winking at him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Good luck, mate.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You two are still such good friends," said Mrs. Phill's voice. "That's nice to see.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Good morning, Mrs. Phill," Richard greeted, beginning to rearrange and display his vegetables. "Did your husband like the pumpkin?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh yes," she said excitedly, clapping her hands. "Do you have another one today?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Of course. There’s a lovely one,” Richard said, handing her a heavy squash. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, but look what a beauty" she exclaimed. "Your soil has something magical, young man"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, actually... I think maybe it does," he said, smiling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You will have to wait for me to sell something to give you your coins I’m afraid,” the kind woman said. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Actually ... I was thinking, do you maybe have one of your heavy blankets, for the winter?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh yes, of course I do"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The old woman looked through her goods and showed him a beautiful, thick knitted blanket. "I hope you like the color, it's the only one I have," she said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's perfect, ma'am," Richard said. "It's my favorite color," he confessed, loving the dark green color of the dyed wool.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard bought a new pair of pants, some well-made new boots, and two shirts, and then went to Old John's pantry to buy honey and apples.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He washed up in his garden again. It might be the first time that he washed his body and hair twice the same day, he thought. He put on his new clothes. He had bread, cheese and milk for dinner while he anxiously waited for some sign from the fairy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fairy didn’t show up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Had he done something wrong? Had he hurt him? Was he scared? Last night had been wonderful, but there he was, alone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wanted to see him so badly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He put on his warm sweater, lit his lamp, and walked with determination until he reached the edge of his orchard and entered the forest. He knew it was crazy, that to go into the forest alone at night was suicide.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Richard was listening to his heart more than his brain, and jumped on the wire that separated them. "Here we go," he said, taking a deep breath.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The night was wonderful, the sky was clear and full of stars. The moon was full and illuminated everything in its path. Maybe this wasn’t so bad. "Beautiful moon," he said to himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He suddenly heard a wolf howl ... and every hair on his body stood up in terror. It was the </span>
  <em>
    <span>full</span>
  </em>
  <span> moon. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now he was afraid... "</span>
  <em>
    <span>But you don't believe in those things, Richard,</span>
  </em>
  <span>" his brain said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>Yes, well you don't believe in fairies either and you slept with one last night,</span>
  </em>
  <span>" replied his heart.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He heard the wolf's howl again, but this time it sounded even closer. "Fuck!" Richard said out loud, almost panicking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wanted to see Froy more than anything in the world… but he wasn't going to see him again if he wound up dead. Richard turned and started walking back toward his house. His legs were shaking and his heart was pounding in terror.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He heard noises behind him, far away, but they seemed to be getting closer. "Fuck, fuck!, don’t look back, don’t look," he said to himself, speeding up his pace. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wasn’t going to run. Taron had always told him never to run in the forest, as noise of the leaves and the vibration in the ground would alert predators.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard had already alerted one, regardless. Suddenly the noises changed. He could hear something similar to a wail, an animal crying, scared.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The wind shifted again, and the air felt odd, that same strange air that he felt the night he met Froy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was suddenly no longer afraid.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard turned and could see shadows and movement. He approached carefully and used the lamp to illuminate the forest floor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A wolf looked up at him from the ground, where it was held tight with hundreds of strong roots and vines that came out from under the earth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You are a very brave man," said a voice from the dark that sounded like a song to Richard’s ears.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then Froy appeared as if part of the forest itself, right in front of Richard, his white skin and blue eyes shining like stars from his dark hooded cloak.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I wanted to see you," Richard said, feeling stupid.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But putting your life at risk for me?" said Froy. "I should feel flattered..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was reckless, I know. But I had to try."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy smiled sweetly at him, then turned to where the tethered wolf was. With a single wave of his hand, the roots receded back under the ground, and the wolf shook free and fled in the opposite direction unharmed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That was a bit too close," said Richard, taking a relieved breath. "Thank you, Froy."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy stepped close to Richard and caressed his cheek. "I wanted to see you too, you know," he said. "But I couldn't leave the forest three nights in a row. I’m its guardian."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I understand," Richard said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But... since you're </span>
  <em>
    <span>here...</span>
  </em>
  <span>" Froy said, throwing himself against Richard’s body in a desperate kiss.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard dropped the lamp on the floor and hugged Froy around his waist, deepening the kiss. Froy pushed him against one of the huge trees, and lunged for him again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I want you to do me the same you did last night," he pleaded, kissing his ear and neck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The same?" Richard asked, grinning. "That’s boring. I can do better than the same."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard turned Froy around and pressed him against the tree, beginning to rub his hard bulge right against the fairy's ass.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was something about Froy’s garment, the long concealing hood, that turned Richard on, and since he wasn't going to take his clothes off in the cold...Richard lowered Froy’s pants, and crawled mischievously underneath. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you doing… oooh,” Froy groaned, as he felt Richard’s hot tongue on his hole. He had to hug the trunk of the tree not to fall, and his legs trembled from all that new sensation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard licked and stretched Froy’s entrance with his tongue and bit into his sweet ass cheeks. He was having so much fun, not bad for being a few seconds away from being eaten by a wolf, he thought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh… Oh, Richard. It feels so good," Froy moaned against the trunk of the tree until Richard couldn’t take it anymore.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He came out from underneath and opened his pants, sliding his erection toward Froy's entrance when he noticed the tree, which was slowly beginning to bloom with bright flowers, as if they were in the middle of the forest on a sunny spring day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Look at that!" he said, surprised. "You made that happen?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No!" Froy replied. "</span>
  <em>
    <span>You </span>
  </em>
  <span>made me do it..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard shook his head in surprise. He pressed into him and entered Froy very slowly, then reached for his erection to take care of him, and for his mouth to kiss him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I couldn’t wait to feel this again," Froy said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I've been thinking about you all day," Richard admitted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Move, please…” What a lascivious creature Froy had turned out to be. "Find my special point," he begged. "Oh please, please find it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Easy..." Richard whispered over his ear through his hood. "These good things take time."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard grabbed onto Froy's hip, and he went faster and deeper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"There, oh," cried the fairy. "There is my point...yes..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard kept making the same movements in that same direction, beginning to feel his own pleasure about to explode from his feet to his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Kiss me, hard," demanded the fairy, and Richard obeyed, of course. Without a doubt it was what he liked the most and Richard was happy to oblige him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Each one choked his orgasm in the other's mouth, and after a few seconds Froy turned to continue kissing him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That felt so delicious," Richard said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Keep kissing me," Froy begged, desperate.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I need some air sometimes," Richard said, leaving his mouth to rest at the crook of his neck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Mmmm ... I already want to do it again,” Froy said. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard couldn’t believe how greedy his sweet fairy was. "I have apples and honey for you in my house," he smiled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy paused, looking at Richard sadly from under his hood. "I can't leave the forest tonight, I’m sorry."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I get it," said Richard, fixing his clothes so he didn't shiver. "But I can't stay here, I'll freeze to death."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Nothing bad will happen to you in this forest, I promise," the fairy said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know, you have shown me that is true tonight," Richard said, smiling. "But I do need to rest, too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy wrapped his arms around Richard’s neck and kissed him one last time. The flowers that had grown from that tree began to fall from the branches and flutter on top of them like snow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you for coming to see me tonight," said the fairy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thanks for saving my life," Richard said, still in disbelief.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard kissed him one last time and turned away toward his house. He looked over his shoulder for him one last time, but Froy had already disappeared into the forest.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard arrived at the market the next morning to find a revolt among the villagers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What’s happening?" he asked, alarmed at what he saw.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh Richard," cried Mrs. Phill. "It’s the hunters. Taron and the others never returned from the forest."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What!?" Richard exclaimed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"They've been out there all night in the woods."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard felt like he was drowning in waves of panic.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Rich! Oh, Richard!" called a woman's voice, desperate.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He turned to find Taron's whole family, his mother, his stepfather, and his two little sisters, in tears.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh Richard!" moaned the woman, who couldn't stop crying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Everything is going to be fine, Tina," he said, hugging her to try to calm her down. "Taron knows these woods, he can take care of himself out there."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know, but it was freezing! And the wolves! He has never spent the night in the forest, he has always come back," she wailed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What is the mayor doing about this!?" Richard asked angrily.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you really think he'll do anything?" said Taron’s stepfather, indignant. “He doesn't care about these men! </span>
  <em>
    <span>They are hunters, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he said. </span>
  <em>
    <span>They know the risks."</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But they were taking the risks for him! For his ridiculous fancy dinner," Richard said, more furious by the minute.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Full of rage, and almost without thinking, Richard walked right to the mayor's house, took a stone from the ground and threw it against one of the windows, shattering the glass. The crowd of villagers who gathered with him gasped in surprise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The mayor, a short, stodgy man, showed himself at the broken window, looking scared and disoriented.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You just lost your spot at the market, Madden!" he yelled at him and shook his fist.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We'll see where you get the vegetables for your fancy dinners while the villagers starve to death!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All the villagers behind him began to cheer and shout their support, yelling their demands right to the mayor’s face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"There are four hunters in danger out there that you sent yourself!" shouted Taron's stepfather.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I hired them and paid them for that work,” the mayor replied. “It is not my fault that they have not returned.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Send your men to find them!" yelled the pregnant wife of Jamie, one of the missing hunters.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not sending my men to search the forest. It would take days!" he argued selfishly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"At least they would be doing something!" exclaimed Taron's mother. "Those are four of our best hunters, and they’re your villagers!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm sorry, I am," said the man, looking almost sincere for the first time. "We all know here that the forest is dangerous and that this is the risk the hunters take... I truly am very sorry."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Without saying anything more, the mayor went back into his house, leaving a confused and angered crowd outside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Fuck this," said Richard. "I'll go myself."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm going with you," Taron's stepfather offered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"And I'll go too, lads," said Mr. Phill with determination. He was an older man, but he had been a good hunter, and knew the woods well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The three men began to prepare, packing bags with food provisions and the weapons they had, some bows and arrows, knives and wood axes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>More volunteers joined, including Mr. Fletcher, the carpenter who worked with Taron, who brought his horse and his wagon. Mr. Doll, who had political aspirations and was eager to see the mayor fall and take his job, came too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The people of the village wished them luck and they promised to return before dark, with the hunters or without the hunters.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sun was right above them, which meant it was noon. They had been walking for hours, and had many hours before the darkness would cover them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Come on, please," Richard whispered as he walked. "Help me, please..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What are you whispering?" asked Taron's stepfather who was walking a few steps behind him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh ... just a prayer," Richard quickly lied.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I didn't know you were religious," he said skeptically. "You're never in church when we go."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well I… believe in my own way," Richard explained.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you have some water?" Taron’s stepfather asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard was relieved to change the subject. “Yes, sure.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The five men continued walking through the forest, spreading out from each other to further cover the ground. Sometimes they stopped to rest, to drink water or eat some fruit for energy, but nothing else. They couldn't waste time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They came across an unfamiliar group of hunters and asked them if they had seen their missing four young men, but they knew nothing about them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Come on, please ..." Richard whispered again. But there was no sign of the fairy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are you sure we're not walking in circles?" asked Mr. Fletcher.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Of course not!" Mr. Phill answered, annoyed. "I know this forest, we hunters have made paths here for many years. If we follow them we will not get lost"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Very good, just asking," Richard said, and kept walking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The sun will begin to set in an hour," said Mr. Doll. "Maybe we should think about going back?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What!?" Richard objected. "No, not yet...let’s keep going."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Son ..." said Mr. Phill, kindly. "It will take us a while to return to the village."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We will arrive with no sun in the sky," said Mr. Fletcher.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We can take another path back, to cover more ground," agreed Taron's stepfather. "But indeed, we must go back."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can't believe you’re all saying this!" Richard said, angry.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have two daughters, as well as Taron, Richard. I don't want to be lost too," his stepfather tried to reason.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No, let’s...a little further! We still have time," Richard insisted again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm sorry, son," Mr. Phill said, shaking his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The four men turned to head back to the village, but Richard couldn't follow them, his legs were weak and his heart was broken.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Where are you?" he said again, as if speaking to the trees. "Why aren't you here helping me?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Richard, come on!" Taron's stepfather called from afar. "You will get lost on your own!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Please, please ..." he implored, crying only to the forest. "Please help me, I need you, Froy."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His tears fell on the ground, he got no answer. The sun had begun to set, and his companions were already far ahead of him, but that didn't matter. He knew how to go back alone, although he didn't want to, not without Taron.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He heard footsteps in front of him, and he thought it was Taron's stepfather, until he saw a pair of familiar bare feet, covered in mud.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He stood up from the forest floor, surprised and full of hope.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy was there in front of him at last.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Please, Froy, I’m sorry to ask," he cried. "My best friend is lost out here, with three other men."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy was looking at him with a calm and neutral expression. He didn’t seem moved or worried. Richard was crying desperately in front of him, and the fairy was doing nothing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Please, Froy?" he pleaded, confused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fairy took a few light steps to a clearing in the middle of the trees, and sadly pointed his finger towards the ground.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard ran to the spot and knelt. Beneath the leaves and tangled tree roots, he could see a tunnel, and four men inside a deep and narrow well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They were buried alive inside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Taron!" he called to him, panicked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Richard!" Taron yelled back from inside, surprised.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh God… oh my God, I’m coming, I'll get you out!" Richard shouted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tried asking for help again, but the fairy was no longer there. He didn't want to leave the well, so he started screaming.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"They’re here!" he yelled loudly "Come back! I found them!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard took out his knife and began to cut away the roots that covered the well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Help!" he screamed again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Easy Richard, we're fine," Taron informed from inside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"HELP!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A few minutes later the men who had abandoned their search made their way back. Taron's stepfather took the ax and began chopping at the roots that closed off the tunnel.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Here's some rope," said old Mr. Phill.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With much effort the men cut back the roots and freed their trapped companions.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All four were strong and able to help each other get free. Jamie had an injured ankle that looked broken, but all of them were whole and in good health otherwise. They were just very thirsty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron was the last to leave the well, and he melted into a desperate hug with Richard.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They obviously had to get out of the forest as soon as possible. The wagon helped, carrying old Mr. Phill and the hurt Jamie.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard looked back once more… and there he was, a tall dark shadow in the middle of the forest. He could only see his blue eyes shining under his hood.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy was more powerful than Richard could have imagined, that was plain to see. He could grow an entire orchard overnight... or he could trap and bury grown men alive in the middle of the forest. He had done that to Taron and the others...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard’s heart broke. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Fascinating and terrifying. Sweet and dangerous. Beautiful and wicked.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I love you @drinkingstars!, you're the best!!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It had been a hard day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard was invited to have dinner with Taron’s family, to show their appreciation. His hunger and fatigue won, so he ate with them, laughed, drank whiskey, and even smoked tobacco.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are you staying, Richard?" Taron's mom asked as the night grew late.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh no, I don't want to bother," he said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You will never be a bother to us, dear," she said kindly. "Taron still sleeps in the same bed you slept in when you two were kids."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ma!” Taron said, and Richard thought he could see him blush. Richard remembered that bed very well, how could he forget it? Taron was trying to hide his embarrassed smile, so he was thinking the same without a doubt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's almost snowing outside," noticed his stepfather. "It's not a good idea, going out again."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard knew he was right. He was feeling a little dizzy from the alcohol, and deep inside he knew that he didn't want to be alone, lost in his thoughts of Froy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard and Taron stayed a while longer in the living room, alone in front of the fireplace, enjoying the last glass of whiskey before going to sleep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"There was a boy," said Taron, sipping his whiskey.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What?" Richard asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"In the forest, there was a boy..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard's heart stopped for an instant.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He told me he was lost," Taron recounted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You mean a little boy?" Richard asked, his heart pounding. "A child, lost in the forest?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I mean ... not a child, he was like  a young man. He was in his early twenties, twenty two maybe ... his face was... so beautiful..." Taron said in a wistful dream.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck, please no</span>
  </em>
  <span>... Richard thought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We were walking and walking and he just suddenly showed up, asked me to help him,” Taron recalled. “He told me he was lost.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"And what did you do?" Richard asked, impatiently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I couldn't do </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything</span>
  </em>
  <span>," Taron said, confused. "It was a strange moment. I couldn’t move, and then I fell...and then It was like the ground was sucking me in."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"And what happened to the boy?" Richard urged.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don't know,” Taron said, trying to remember. “The others tried to help me but they fell too, right behind me. None of them saw the boy, I think, only me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard didn't know what to say. He could only feel his heart breaking more and more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I wonder what happened to him," Taron asked thoughtfully. "Where is he now? Did he get somewhere safe?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're too kind, Taron," said Richard. "After what happened to you, you still only worry about someone else."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He was only a young man, he may have been frightened. I mean ... I know that forest, inside and out...but I don't know where that well came from. It was just like... like the ground decided to open up and swallow us, like it had a mind of its own."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard frowned and finished his glass of whiskey. He put it on the table in front of them. "Let's go to sleep," he suggested. "It was a hell of a long day."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you," said Taron once more. "When you were washing up outside, my stepfather told me that you didn't give up on me, and the others. So thank you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You would have done the same for me," Richard said sadly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I would have burned that damn forest to the ground..." Taron said. "Why didn't you burn anything for me?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hey! I broke the window of the mayor's house," Richard said in his own defense, laughing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What?!" Taron exclaimed. "No one had told me about that!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They went to Taron’s room still laughing, sharing the bed and stories until they slept, happy to be together and alive.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was Sunday, and Richard thought he deserved a break. He had breakfast with Taron and then they went to visit Jamie to ask him about his ankle, and also Mr. Phill. The old man had given a great effort to the rescue, and when his lovely wife invited them to lunch, they couldn’t refuse.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then they went to the village square, where there was a show to entertain the guests, some privileged men who were working for the king. Richard and Taron exchanged challenging glances with the mayor, but the man didn’t dare to do anything…they knew he was too cowardly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard invited Taron to drink beer at the old tavern. They hadn't spent so much time together in a long time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh my god..." said Taron, taking a sip of his beer. "He doesn't even want to pretend anymore."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Who?" Richard asked, oblivious.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Brandon doesn't stop looking at you," Taron said, acting a bit like the town gossip.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard took a swig of his beer as well, then peeked over to the bar. He could see the attractive, but troubled young man back there, cleaning some glasses.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He wants to fuck you so bad," Taron laughed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That’s his problem, not mine," Richard said, joining Taron to be a little catty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Cheers to that," Taron proposed, raising his glass.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The two friends stood there for a while, saying hello to friends, laughing, but there was something wrong.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are you okay?" Richard finally asked Taron. "You seem kind of... lost. Distracted, maybe."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron put his hands around his beer. "I just...I can't stop thinking about that boy."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard's heart began to pound. He needed more alcohol, so he motioned to the beautiful but troublesome Brandon to bring him another round.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You are worrying a lot about a person you don’t even know," Richard said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You haven't seen him. He was so... God, so beautiful," Taron said, lost in a dream.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard knew it, he knew Froy’s beauty very well, and he couldn't blame Taron for being attracted to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He... he just showed up there, in front of me," Taron kept trying to remember. "I don't even know where he came from, and no one else saw him, and it was so odd...I just can’t remember. But I can't stop thinking about him."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm sure he's fine," Richard said, desperately wanting this talk to end.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I really hope so, he looked so scared, all alone in that dangerous forest."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Maybe he is a better hunter than you," Richard joked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah sure, very funny," Taron said, but just stared into his beer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They left the bar soon after, and the cold winter wind made them feel dizzy. The sun was setting, and it made Richard nervous. He had been avoiding going back to his house all day, he didn't want to face the inevitable… whatever that was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you want to come home with me?" Richard asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron looked at him full of surprise and expectation along with a glint of mischief in his eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Sure." Taron accepted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard just needed to forget.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was completely dark when the two of them reached the door of Richard's house. "It's been a while since we spent the whole day together," Richard said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's true, we used to spend all our days together... and nights," Taron said. He was close, too close, and Richard couldn't move because the door was behind him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you want to come in?" Richard finally asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you really need to ask?" Taron grinned.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard opened the door to his house, and the fragrance of roses hit him in the nose. The whole inside was completely overwhelmed with them, red roses covering everything once again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No!" he yelled, closing the door quickly. "This is not right. I’m sorry."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What?" Taron asked, confused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We said long ago, this wouldn’t happen again."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron looked a bit disappointed and he took a deep breath. He was too tired to argue. "You're right," Taron said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm sorry," Richard repeated himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No .. no, you’re right," Taron acknowledged. "You have always been the voice of reason."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You know...lonely winter, too much beer... not a good combination."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Richard," he stopped him. "It’s ok. You're right."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I’m so happy that you’re safe ... but I don’t want to confuse any feelings."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron stepped close and just hugged him. "Good night, my friend," he said with clear sadness in his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Goodnight." Richard stayed at the door of his house until he lost sight of his friend, and finally went inside. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hesitated for a moment, but then began to walk slowly toward the back of the house, watching as the branches of the fairy’s roses delicately parted as before, making way for him to pass.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he went out into the garden, all of his vegetables had grown again. Flowers, fruit and vegetables everywhere. The fairy must know he might be upset, Richard thought… and the fairy was right.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy wasn't there, though. Richard couldn't see him or sense his air anywhere.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He suddenly saw a line of tiny white flowers sprout up from the ground, like magic. They smelled delicious, and their blooms instantly formed a path.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The path went straight into the forest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Should he go down that path? Should he keep trusting Froy? He had seen what the fairy was capable of, good and bad.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Fascinating and terrifying. Sweet and dangerous. Beautiful and wicked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He decided to trust. To believe the roses, his vegetables, and the flower path were all good omens. He took a deep breath and started walking, stepping carefully ahead to the forest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With each step he took a new flower sprung in front of him, taking him deeper and deeper into the forest. His heart was pounding nervously and he was more than a little scared, but Froy had promised that nothing bad would happen to him in that forest, and he clung to that trust he felt for him, despite everything.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he finally saw him, the moonlight was shining directly on him, as if the moon knew he was a magnificent creature.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was standing on a large, soft mound formed by the same white flowers that guided him there. Next to him was a small lake that Richard didn't even know existed before. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy smelled like spring in the middle of winter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You've come," he said with his sweet voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I wasn’t sure I should come," Richard replied honestly. "After I saw what you are capable of."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're scared of me now?" Froy asked, his eyes full of sadness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I really don't know how to feel," Richard replied. It sounded harsh, but he wanted to be honest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I was protecting my forest," Froy defended himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You buried them alive."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That’s not true, Richard," Froy argued, explaining. "I didn't mean to harm them, I was going to free them that same night. You know I wasn’t going to let them die!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You didn't come to help me. I needed you! We walked for hours, looking."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Those hunters needed to learn a lesson, I'm tired of seeing them desecrating my forest."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"They only do it to survive," Richard tried to justify it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"They kill animals, they cut down trees, they set fire to the grounds I must protect."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"They kill animals to feed their families. They cut down trees to make furniture, and to burn for warmth. If they can't make a fire, they would die of cold."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Everything has a replacement"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know, I know," Richard said, trying to understand both sides. "But there are children in the village, they cannot live off only vegetables. They need meat to grow strong and healthy."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Every day they cause more and more destruction to my forest."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm not happy about that, Froy. But their intentions are good."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are your friend Taron's intentions good?" the fairy questioned.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, I know his intentions are good," Richard defended him firmly. "His heart is good."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He was the one who hit me with his arrow that time," Froy confessed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What?" Richard asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It was him. He killed a whole herd of rabbits," Froy said. "More than anyone needs. I tried to stop him but he was fast, too. He saw my movements and shot me with his arrow."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, Froy. I'm so sorry."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you know why it took me so long to heal?" Froy asked. "Because the arrow had poison in its tip."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard did know that. Many of the hunters wet their arrows with a special poison from a plant, to bring down a larger prey faster.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I had to go to the edge of the forest to heal," he continued. "Those roots that were tied to my leg were healing me, I wasn't trapped by them."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The night we met," Richard remembered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You are the only good thing I can see in that village," Froy said sadly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No, please, don't say that," Richard begged, coming closer. "The people of that village are good, they only use the resources of the forest to survive ... and they cause harm, I know, I’m not going to defend that, but the forest has you to protect it.” Richard took Froy’s hands in his hands so he could feel his sincerity and concern. "You can heal a tree, a wounded animal, make the grass grow back..." he continued. "You can help the forest and the people of the village too."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fairy looked emotional, but there was still doubt in his eyes. Richard didn't expect Froy to change his mind right there, but at least he was trying to show him the reality of the village and the mortal people who lived there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"They can't do any of those things, Froy," he said. "They are not like you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But I’m like them," Froy said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What are you talking about?" Richard asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I’m also a man, remember?" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"How can that be?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"My father was a mortal man," Froy confessed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Really?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"My mother is a fairy," Froy said. "She was the guardian of this forest, a long time ago, and she fell in love with a man, with my father."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard was surprised, but then he had never thought about this. He thought that fairies were born from… well, he had no idea how fairies were born.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Where is he now?" Richard asked, trying to understand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"My father died many years ago," he said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm so sorry, Froy."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He had a good life," Froy recalled. "I have many good memories of him."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"So you knew him?" Richard asked, surprised again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Of course!" he said with a smile "My father and I lived together in a village that no longer exists."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"And your mom?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"She couldn't live among men, so my dad and I went into the forest to see her all the time," Froy said, happily.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Froy... that's beautiful."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It was beautiful while it lasted. I guess we were happy in our own way."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What happened?" Richard asked, sensing there was something else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The times of men are not the times of fairies," Froy said sadly. "My father left us too soon."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Reality hit Richard on the face. He was going to grow old and die, but Froy would continue exactly the same, looking like a beautiful young man forever.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Where is your mom now?" Richard asked, trying not to think.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"She is... resting."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You are not all alone, are you?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No, I'm not."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard stroked Froy's cheek. He felt more relieved after talking to him, his fears and his insecurities leaving him when he looked into Froy's blue eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He brought his thumb to his lips, outlining them gently, watching as the fairy's beautiful face adopted a soft expression of pleasure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard used his other arm to wrap around his waist and hold him to his body. The fairy looked at him with desire and caught his thumb in his mouth, sucking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I think I'm falling in love with you," Richard whispered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know I already am," replied the fairy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard kissed him so soft, so delicate… but Froy didn't want to be kissed like that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fairy demanded more, deeper and stronger, trying to reach the depths of Richard's soul with his kiss.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Let's go to my house," Richard proposed, catching some air.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Nothing bad will happen to us here," said Froy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fairy kissed him again, grabbing his hair and messing each curl. He dragged him to the ground and took control of the situation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard could feel the flowers blooming under his back. They were more comfortable than his bed, warm and sweet smelling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy moved on top of him, rubbing against his erection and kissing every bit of exposed skin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What a naughty little creature you've turned out to be," Richard moaned, feeling him suck on his neck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can do more than just grow vegetables, you know," Froy grinned and moved down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard's laugh echoed across the vast forest, but right away his laugh turned into a moan.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was mesmerized watching the fairy settle between his legs, sucking him off from his tip to the base, his sparkling blue eyes glancing up to Richard’s face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was a beautiful, delicious torture.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard breathed hard and bit his own lip to keep him from finishing in that instant. The fairy continued his work on him, increasingly intense and increasingly obscene.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're so good ..." Richard moaned, wriggling on the flowery mattress he was lying on. "Oh, amazing, fuck! Froy, that’s...oh..." It was the most exquisite thing his body had ever felt in his life, and he was saying nonsense, unable to make real words. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was losing his mind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy kept watching him, playing with his tongue on the tip of his erection. He wasn't going to be able to hold back anymore, this was it. "Come here ..." Richard told him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard kissed him hard as he turned him over on the mattress of flowers, quickly shedding his pants away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You want me to lose my mind for you, don’t you?" Richard whispered against his lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I think you’ve already lost it," Froy said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard groaned as Froy lifted his hips and their two erections made contact, dancing one on top of the other, pulling more gasps and sighs out of each other's mouths.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He found Froy’s entrance, carefully, little by little filled him, until they became the same, moving as one in the middle of the forest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do it hard..." Froy asked, squeezing Richard. "Please, hard."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes ..." Richard replied, obeying anything he said. "Yes, my beautiful fairy, yes..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, yours."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard watched Froy, how beautiful he was while enjoying himself. His swollen and red lips, flushed cheeks, fair skin, sparkling blue eyes staring straight at him, blonde hair stuck with sweat to his forehead.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Mmm, yeah ... there it is," Froy gasped in warning when Richard found it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just a few more moments. Just a few more moves. Just a few more moans.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suddenly, they were looking at each other without opening their eyes. They were touching each other without using their hands. They were understanding each other without using a word.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy wrapped his hood around Richard's body, bringing him inside it. Everything around them ceased to exist, and was reduced to just two beings, breathing hard, relaxing little by little in each other's arms.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was nothing more they could do.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They were in love.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you, more to come!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I just ... can't get him out of my head.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A new chapter is finally here, polished by the wonderful @drinkingstars</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Richard arrived at the wood shop carrying two bags of vegetables.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Good afternoon, Mr. Fletcher," he greeted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, good afternoon Richard," he replied with a smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I brought you your vegetables."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Very well. I'll go get your coins."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard waited and looked around… there was a lot of wood. There were tree trunks piled up everywhere, and there was no sign of his friend.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Here you go, young man," said the carpenter, handing over his payment.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Is Taron here?" he asked. "I was coming to look for him to go to the tavern."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He should be here," said the man. "But he's still in the forest."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He went hunting?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He will probably bring some kind of animal back, but he’s getting more wood for the new furniture that the palace requested."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But there is already so much wood," Richard noted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know ..." Mr. Fletcher said with a sigh, resting for a moment. "But he insists we need even more."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard thought for a moment. The whole week, Taron had been out in the woods first thing in the morning, and not out of them until night fell.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Could you tell him to come to my house when he gets back, please?" Richard asked, still thinking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Of course."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you, sir."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What the hell was Taron doing every day in the woods? He was cutting down so many trees, and he couldn't stop thinking about Froy. He was not in a good state of mind. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Richard!" called a man's voice as he was heading home. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, Mr. Taupin," he greeted him. "I haven't seen you for a long time."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"This came for you a few days ago," the post man said, holding out an envelope. It was dirty and a little crumpled from its journey. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you..." Richard said cautiously, but his heart began to pound. It was a letter from his mother. He hadn't seen his family since the summer, and he knew his father was sick. A letter could only mean some kind of news... bad news.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He went inside, poured himself a glass of whiskey and sat in front of the fireplace. He played with the letter in his hands without having the courage to open it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He felt guilty for delaying his return home to see his family, but he didn’t want to expose himself to his father judging him. His family’s ranch was huge, with a large house and many animals. His father expected him to take it over and keep it in their family as it had been for generations. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He pressured Richard to start a family of his own, and he was not ready for that. He was not ready to carry on that place… or the legacy of the last name.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Two knocks on his wooden door snapped him out of his thoughts.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The carpenter told me you were looking for me," said Taron when he entered his house. He looked dirty and tired.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well, yeah ... hello?" Richard said. "I haven't seen you in a week."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I was busy."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Doing what?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are you the boss of me now?" Taron asked, a little annoyed. "Do you want to go to the tavern or not?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm sorry ... it's just that ..." Richard shook his head. "This letter from my family just arrived."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, that's good...isn’t it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Is it? ... what if it's bad news?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Why do you always have to think of bad things?" he asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Has been a long time since their last letter."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Give it to me, I’ll read it for you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard took a deep breath and handed the letter to his friend. "But don't read it aloud," he asked him. "Just read it yourself and tell me the news."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Alright ...let's see," Taron said, sitting down on the couch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard was watching him expectantly beside him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Dear son ..." Taron began. "She misses you ... Ehh, blah blah, your dad is fine but he hardly walks anymore..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Fuck ..." Richard put his face in his hand. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"May I continue?” asked Taron. "The village is fine ... the ranch is fine, so are the animals ... blah blah ... oh!" he exclaimed "... the Coleman family has returned to the town and their daughter is still unwed."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"See? That’s exactly why I don't want to go back there."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, your sister is pregnant again!" Taron yelled, happy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>What</span>
  </em>
  <span>?!" Richard yelled even more excitedly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes! She is expecting her third child."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh my God, they are already three"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"She loves you, she misses you and she wants you to go visit for spring." Taron gave him the letter and looked at him with a smile "See?" he said "No bad news, can we go to the pub now?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Not really ... just about my dad,” Richard frowned. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Richard ... we all knew this could happen," Said Taron, reaching for Richard with a comforting hand. "It's a miracle he's still alive after falling from a horse as he did."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know," Richard looked down sadly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"A new child, my friend," Taron said, brightly. "You should focus on that happy news and go see them in the spring."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Maybe it's time," Richard thought. "Thank you, Taron."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's always a pleasure, my friend." Richard felt that tension return that was never going to go away. Taron looked at him too long, and after an awkward silence said suddenly, "I must go."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are you okay?" Richard asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, why?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You would tell me if something is wrong?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Of course, Richard," he said, with a tired smile. "You are my best friend."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron left his house and Richard took the letter to read it himself. He wanted to see his family. He missed them too, but he couldn’t face his father again. And now there was something else.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn't want to leave his fairy.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His beautiful fairy, the same one who was moving on top of him about to have his second orgasm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He couldn't leave him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy fell onto his body, shaken and sweating. He wrapped his arms around him, protecting him. "Did you have fun up there?" Richard asked, kissing his damp hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Mmm ... yes," Froy replied, satisfied. "What about you?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I was very distracted watching you enjoy yourself on me," Richard said softly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Are you okay?" asked the fairy, curious.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Of course I'm okay," he answered. "You are here with me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You are as sweet as honey," Froy said, making Richard groan. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh ... speaking of honey" Richard said, getting up naked from the bed. "I bought a huge special jar, just for you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Apples too?" Froy asked excitedly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You grew an apple tree outside, remember?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh yes, I did," said the fairy, dipping into the honey and eating it with his fingers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard decided to eat apple, Froy's favorite combination seemed too sweet and didn’t appeal to him, but it was a lot of fun to watch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What is that over there?" the fairy asked, pointing with his finger, sticky with honey. “I saw it when I got here. It has some strange drawings."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, those aren’t drawings," Richard explained. “They’re letters. It’s a letter to me, written by my mother."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"And what did your mother write in the letter?" Froy asked, happily sucking some honey. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"She wrote to tell me that my sister is having another baby."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, that's wonderful,” Froy beamed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Wonderful just like you," Richard said, touching his cheek.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy looked at him, his blue eyes penetrating. Richard felt as if he could read his soul.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I want to do it again," Froy said, sucking his fingers clean. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Froy ... I already told you,” he laughed. “I’m not a superhuman, my body needs some time to recover."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy rolled his eyes, annoyed because he had to wait for more sex, and continued eating the honey from the jar. He was such a naughty creature, his fairy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I want to ask you something," Richard said suddenly.  "Has Taron been causing much trouble in the forest?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He is always causing trouble," Froy said seriously. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I mean more problems than usual in the last week?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No ... not really," he answered honestly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What does he do all day in the forest?” Richard asked him. “Can you see where he goes?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He just walks through the forest,” he said. "He talks to people on his way, and he always reaches the outer edge of the forest, and the other village."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But is he cutting trees, or hunting?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He always hunts two or three rabbits, but I try to remember what you told me. That they can help the children of the village be healthy and strong.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, sweet Froy. Thanks for understanding," Richard  said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"About the trees, he doesn’t cut down more. He takes pieces of trees that have fallen down, and sometimes brings wood from the other village."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What? Why does he do that?" Richard asked, confused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy just shrugged. "He mostly just walks, like he’s looking for something."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Looking for what?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fairy was too distracted finishing his honey to reply, but Richard couldn't stop thinking about Taron's strange behavior this past week.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Can we do it again now?" asked Froy, hopefully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His fairy had really turned out to be insatiable. “It's never enough for you, is it?" Richard said, smiling because this time he could. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Another day without Taron. His friend was neglecting his work, his family and his friends ... well, only him, actually.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron's mother was furious looking for her son. Her husband had left the village and she needed help taking care of her two young daughters.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He's not here with me, sorry," Richard said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"If you see him, send him home, please."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I will, yes," he promised her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard had had enough and decided to go out and find his friend himself. The day was coming to an end, and that meant Taron should be on his way back to the village again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard was going to find out what was happening.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The temperature dropped in the forest quickly, as the trees covered the sun. It always seemed that night fell earlier each day.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well, well ..." said a lovely voice he knew well. It sounded like a song, as always. "What is a human man doing alone in the forest when the sun is about to fall?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard turned to the voice and saw his beloved Froy standing next to a tree. The fairy wore his usual long hood and looked beautiful, even more beautiful than the last time he had seen him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>How was that possible?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I’m looking for my friend..." he said, moving closer. "He's been missing all day again."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh ... I thought you couldn't wait until the night to see me," Froy said, disappointed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can't wait, my love," Richard said, caressing his cheek. "But first I must find him"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Why?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Because he is my best friend, and something is disturbing him to the point of neglecting his family and his job," Richard explained.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I see. Well you can stay with me now, since you're here," Froy suggested.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You know I want to, but I really need to find him. I have to talk to him."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well … here is what I know," Froy said, coming even closer. "A group of hunters is coming through here soon, but they have already hunted enough for today. I stay ahead of them, to move the animals out of their way."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you know if Taron is with them?" Richard asked, carefully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I might."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fairy didn't say more, just kissed Richard lightly on the lips, trying to distract him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh Froy ... come on," Richard whispered, trying to resist him. "I can't do this right now."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You can't ... but you want to," Froy said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Of course I want to," Richard whined.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Then kiss me again."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard obeyed him this time. There was something terribly addictive about the fairy's lips, he could kiss him for hours. But his skin was a mystery too, so when Richard decided to get some air back, he moved his kisses to his face, slowly moving down his neck, and heard him sigh with pleasure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do this to me forever," Froy gasped, entangling his hands in Richard’s hair. Froy tilted his head to expose more of his neck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Gosh, I love you," Richard murmured, continuing to suck and bite the fairy’s delicate neck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They couldn't get their hands off of each other. It was dangerous to both of them the way they lost control when they were together.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard suddenly heard the sound of wooden wheels on the forest floor, and a few voices talking and laughing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Froy ... stop," he ordered. "They're coming here now."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"They're still far away," Froy replied, playing lightly with Richard’s ear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I need to do this, I’m sorry Froy," Richard said sadly as he pulled back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Why?" Froy pouted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I told you, I'm really worried about Taron."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy stopped his caressing, moved back from Richard a little and looked at him with blue eyes full of wonder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You love him?" he asked simply.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Of course I do, he is my best friend," Richard explained. "And I love him as my friend, not as I love you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Did you ever love him like you love me?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard took a deep breath. "Yes," he answered honestly. "I did. A long time ago."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That means you have kissed him as you kiss me? And you have done all those things together that you do with me?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, Froy ..." he answered, a bit pained. "But that is in the past, it doesn't happen with us like this. Like us."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Promise me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, Froy! Of course I promise you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What changed then? What happened between you?" Froy asked slowly, as if thinking over many things at once.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Look ... I'll tell you all about it another day, okay?" Richard said. "I promise that too. But right now I really must go and find him."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fairy didn’t answer him, just looked at him strangely, still dazed, lips rosy and swollen from kisses.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Will you come to my house tonight?" Richard asked, hearing the voices approaching.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But the fairy didn’t answer, just caressed his cheek and placed one last kiss on his lips before disappearing in an unknown direction, camouflaging himself instantly among the trees.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Who's there?" asked a man’s voice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's me, Richard, the farmer," he called out. "Is Taron here with you?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hello Richard," greeted his friend, appearing around a bend as suddenly as Froy had disappeared. "What are you doing here?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Your mother came to my house, desperate to find you. We were both worried… well I decided to come looking for you myself."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Has something happened?" Taron asked, panicked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You tell me what’s happened, friend. Your mother is angry and worried. You disappear all day, Taron."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron said very little in explanation, just motioned for Richard to join him. Richard still didn’t understand, but walked alongside him with the group of hunters, all the way to the village.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Witnessing the argument that followed between Taron and his mom was a bit awkward, but it wasn’t the first time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When things calmed down, Taron promised his mother he would stay in the house more often, and help more with caring for his little sisters, until their stepfather returned. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Taron, something is happening with you," Richard said later, when they had settled in the tavern with their pints of ale. "Please tell me."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I just ..." Taron said, fiddling with his glass. "I just can't get him out of my head."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Who?" Richard asked, hoping he was wrong.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron swallowed. "The young man I met in the forest... who asked me for help that day."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard's body sank into the chair upon hearing the truth. His heart clenched as he frowned deeply. "Oh, no, Taron ..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"His face, his voice ... they are etched in my mind," Taron confessed. "I need to see him again. I have been looking </span>
  <em>
    <span>everywhere.</span>
  </em>
  <span>"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Why though, Taron?" Richard asked, trying to hide his annoyance. "What is it you plan to do when you find him?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"First, I need to know that he's alright, that he’s unharmed, and second ... I don’t know, maybe invite him for ale."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh my God, Taron," Richard said, starting to lose his calm and patience. "You said he was only a boy."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Not a boy, I said he was a young man. He must be around twenty-two, twenty-three years old. He was even a bit taller than me," Taron half smiled, looking lost in thought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can't believe you, Taron," Richard said, irritated. "You're doing all this, ignoring your family and your work, over some young man that you don't even know? You’re obsessed having only seen him once?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You haven't seen him, you can’t possibly understand!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh, indeed he had seen it, he had seen it all. He could never tell Taron. "I don't care!" Richard said, raising his voice. "You’re assuming he would...you don't even know if he is attracted to men."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh yes, he is. I can guarantee that," Taron said lasciviously. Richard hated it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"How? How do you know? You can’t know that," he yelled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Calm down ..." said Taron, gritting his teeth. "It's the way he spoke to me, the way he looked at me ... I could just, feel it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You’re crazy," Richard groaned.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re jealous!” Taron spat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard was shaking he was so furious now. He knew he shouldn't speak, and just took long gulps of his ale to try to calm himself down.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Here, I wish to show you something," Taron finally said after a long uncomfortable silence between them. He pulled a folded leaf of parchment out of his pocket.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard opened the paper his friend handed him, and his hands began to tremble. It was a sketch done in charcoal, a drawing of Froy's face. It was well done, and instantly recognizable to him as Froy, although it didn't do justice to his beauty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Where did you get this?" Richard asked, his voice quivering.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Remember the artist, Lady Bryce, who came to the village sometimes?" Taron said, leaning closer as if he were telling him a secret. Richard nodded weakly and Taron went on. “She paints the portraits of the king and the royal family that hang in the palace.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, I remember her, Taron. I know of her paintings," Richard felt sick.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"She has a rare talent, a perception of the physiognomy that is perfect. Well ... I went to her workshop and described the face of the young man in the forest, and then with only my description she created this drawing. Remarkable, no?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard lowered his eyes and looked at the drawing again. It was, in fact, perfect. Taron had unknowingly captured and portrayed the face of a fairy— a thing that should never happen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"So, that is where I go. I go every day to the forest, and to the village on the other side, and I look for him. I show people this drawing," Taron explained. "But no one knows him, no one has ever seen him. He is a mystery."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're telling me that you are neglecting everything...to look for a man you can only find in this drawing?" Richard felt his anger grow out of proportion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What can I say, my friend ..." Taron said, taking the drawing back from his hands. "Love at first sight."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Bullshit!" Richard yelled at him, rising so quickly he knocked over his chair, drawing the attention of the other customers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Calm down, will you?" Taron looked baffled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No! I'm not going to calm down, I'm not, Taron, because this is preposterous and needs to stop!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Richard, you're making a scene," Taron said, rightfully embarrassed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard couldn’t stop himself, and he knew it. He stormed out on Taron and the undoubtedly shocked crowd at the tavern. "You know what?” he snarled as he left. “Fuck you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard threw himself onto his bed and began to weep like a child. He didn't remember when was the last time he had cried like this… in fact, he did. It was when he and Taron had decided to end their love affair, and just be friends.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That had hurt a lot. And now his best friend, who had once been his first time and his first love, was obsessed with his fairy. Obsessed to the point of tracking and stalking, like the hunter he is, the wonderful magical creature who had come into Richard’s life, challenged all the things about the world Richard had believed and not believed. Who had become his one true love.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suddenly through his sobbing, Richard felt a delicate hand touching his hair. When he opened his eyes he saw Froy sitting next to him, carefully biting into a slice of apple.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked down at Richard curiously. "Why are you crying?" he asked as he swallowed the apple.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard suddenly thought he understood something, that something must explain all of this since Froy had come into his life.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What did you do to him?" Richard asked miserably, wiping his tears away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What did I do to whom?" Froy asked, confused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What have you done to Taron?" Richard asked, still crying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Nothing, I have done nothing," Froy replied with certainty. "What do you mean?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you know what he just told me?" Richard asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy shook his head gently, taking another slice off the apple.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That he goes every day to the forest, and then to the village on the other side, to look for the mysterious young man he saw. The young man who asked him for help, right before he fell mysteriously into a well."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fairy seemed to think back over this for a moment. "Oh, he means me!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, Froy!" Richard said, exasperated. "Yes he means you. He remembers you, and is absolutely determined to find you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He won't," Froy said with a wink, unbothered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You don't understand, you don't know him," Richard said, cautioning. "He won't stop until he finds you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He never will," Froy said, shrugging.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He has a drawing of your face," Richard explained, desperate for him to take this seriously. "He described his memory of you to an artist from the court, and had it created. He shows it to everyone he meets."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"And so?" Froy said, still unbothered. "No human has seen me who can match this rendering. Only you, my human."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"And Taron! Him! </span>
  <em>
    <span>He </span>
  </em>
  <span>saw you Froy, he remembers! And now he's completely obsessed with you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"And because of this, you think I </span>
  <em>
    <span>did </span>
  </em>
  <span>something to him?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don’t know what I think..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Something like what?" Froy said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't know! Enchant him in some way, cast a spell...you are so powerful, in ways I don’t fully understand," Richard admitted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you wonder, that perhaps I did something like this to you?" Froy asked pointedly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I never said that," Richard replied quickly. He didn’t want to think such a thing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can't make someone fall in love with me,” Froy began. "No creature can do that. I can create a kind of illusion, if I must, for protection. But this only lasts a few minutes...it is not a lasting love or obsession.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, Froy,” Richard said, nodding his head wearily. "I'm just ... I'm trying to understand."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What are you trying to understand exactly?" Froy asked, as if it was obvious. "He saw me and felt attracted to me. That was not my intention, I assure you. I just meant to distract him for a moment, so that the well would catch him and those men."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He is obsessed now. He must find you," Richard said. “It is the only answer.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No way, I don’t wish to be found by him. I don’t like him and I don’t want that," Froy said as he realized what Richard was suggesting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's the only way he will stop," Richard said, pondering the solution. "He's leaving everything else aside for his quest. His family, his work, even our friendship."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Those human problems are not my problems, Richard," Froy said, sounding bothered for the first time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Froy, but if he finds you, he'll see you, and see that you're fine," Richard said carefully. "And then you will reject him...and that's that. He must move on."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy shook his head. "He will forget me in time. Then he will move on."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It won't be that easy,” Richard said. “He told me he's in love with you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He is not, he cannot be. You believe him that much?" Froy asked, skeptically.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It looks like it is true to him," Richard said. “In fact he told me it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>love at first sight.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy shook his head at this. He finished the apple and left the core and seeds on the wooden chair by the bed. "And this was the reason for all your crying?" asked the fairy, touching Richard’s cheek.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I just can't believe it had to be you, </span>
  <em>
    <span>you precisely </span>
  </em>
  <span>he believes he falls in love with..." Richard said sadly, turning his cheek in his hand. "</span>
  <em>
    <span>My </span>
  </em>
  <span>fairy, my beautiful fairy."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Your fairy is in love with </span>
  <em>
    <span>you,</span>
  </em>
  <span>" Froy assured him. “But your sadness must be double."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What do you mean?" Richard asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The person you once loved, now believes he is in love with me. The one you currently love. But...you told me that everything was in the past, remember?" Froy reminded him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard thought about it for a moment, and the fairy had made sense. But he wasn’t entirely right.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It is in the past. It doesn't bother me that Taron is in love with someone else,” Richard assured him. “It does bother me that it's with you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't think your friend is in love with me," Froy said. "He is only attracted to my physical appearance."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can't blame him for it," Richard said, half smiling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I will make everything right," promised the fairy. "I never wish to see you cry again, so I must make it right."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Just ... don't hurt him, please," Richard requested. “Taron has been through enough now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Trust me," Froy smiled. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard smiled too and kissed him, soft and sweet. "Will you stay with me tonight?" he asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I will stay with you forever," the fairy replied.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard took a deep breath, trying to forget everything that had happened. He wanted only to relax in the arms of his fairy, and disappear from all of their troubles in the world of men.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>What had his fairy done?...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello!!!! here's my new chapter at last, thank you to the my gorgeous beta @drinkingstars</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Richard’s favorite thing was to see his fairy showing up and beg him to kiss him, to touch him, to love him. And Richard, of course, was more than happy to please.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Tell me you love me," asked Froy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I love you so much," Richard obeyed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kisses were hungry and desperate, they didn’t want to separate for a second, just to catch some air and continue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Tell me you’ll never leave me," asked Froy again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Of course I will never leave you," Richard replied, surprised. "Why do you say that?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Froy seemed to hesitate, like there was something that he didn't dare tell him. "It's just that ... I ...I'm a little nervous about your friend."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, Froy," Richard said, sighing. "I'm not going to make you do this if you don't want to."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No… no, I do. But I want you to know that I do it for you, because I love you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know," Richard said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first rays of the sun were peeking over the forest trees, and the two lovers said goodbye to each other slowly, without really wanting to part.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'll try to do it today," Froy announced as he stood to leave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Good luck," Richard said, sadly. "Just ..."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm not going to hurt him," Froy finished for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, I know you won’t. Just, come back to me as soon as you can," Richard requested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Froy kissed him one last time, leaving the house empty, and leaving him empty too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>_</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard wasn’t proud of his behavior the day before. So before going to the market he stopped by the wood shop to talk to his friend and try to fix things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taron was hammering two pieces of wood together, with more force than normal or necessary.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey, Taron ..." Richard began carefully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His friend turned and looked at him for a few seconds. He took a deep breath and stood up to face him, but didn't speak.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I’m very sorry about yesterday," Richard apologized. "My reaction was embarrassing and I’m very sorry."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What exactly happened to you?" Taron demanded to know, seriously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just… was surprised by your confession, that's all,” Richard tried to explain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It’s not the first time we have talked about our attraction to someone else,” Taron said, seeming confused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know, it’s not that … I was just surprised that you were putting so many things in your life aside, just to go find someone you don’t even know."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's what I feel," Taron said, shrugging his shoulders. "And I'm really sorry if this hurt your feelings."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No… it's not that, it's not that at all. We are friends, Taron," Richard said, the words feeling as empty as he felt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taron sighed and rolled his eyes, tired, annoyed, sad. "Is that it?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes, I hope everything is fine between us," Richard said before leaving him. "I'm going to support you in your decisions and in your life ... always. I just need a little time, you know?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taron ignored him and went back to work on his furniture, hammering too hard. Richard had already said everything he needed to say. Now it was up to Taron.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey Richard," he said finally, looking up. "Thank you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard replied with a sad smile before leaving, still feeling the gaze of his friend on his back as he walked out the door.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>_</span>
</p><p>
  <span>During the afternoon, Richard looked up from his garden goods and saw Taron go onto the path into the woods. After that, he couldn’t longer concentrate or think of anything else.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he got back home in the early evening, he poured himself a glass of whiskey and went back to reading the letter from his mother. The news of his sister's pregnancy filled him with joy, but something inside him told him that all wasn’t going that well at the ranch. If his father could barely walk, that meant he couldn't keep track of the animals and properly tend to the orchards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was the middle of winter and things were only going to get more difficult, and a feeling of selfishness struck him suddenly. He should be with his family, helping his parents and taking over the work of the ranch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He felt a little angel on his right shoulder, talking about duty and family.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But also a little demon on his left shoulder, whispering words about freedom and pleasure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Two loud knocks on his heavy wooden door brought him out of his thoughts. When he opened it, Taron sprang inside, unable to calm down. "I found him! I found him!" He shouted, full of a happiness Richard hadn’t seen in a long time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?" Richard asked, pretending he didn't understand what he was talking about.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I found him!" Taron said, gleefully, once more. “I found the young man who asked me for help. His name is Froy."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Weird name," Richard dismissed, turning away to hide his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taron helped himself to a glass of whiskey and flopped down on Richard’s couch, looking exhausted but elated. Richard took a deep breath and went to join him, trying to focus, to control his emotions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, tell me," he asked, sitting down beside him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I found him walking through the forest, almost reaching the other village," Taron grinned, gripping the glass in his hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ok .." Richard said blankly, reaching for the glass to have some of his own whiskey. He was going to need it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He... he recognized me, and he smiled at me, and he came closer, and I ... almost died, my friend."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard had a drink of whiskey. It burned his throat going down. "What happened then?" he asked, trying to look interested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He told me that </span>
  <em>
    <span>he</span>
  </em>
  <span> had been worried about </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span>, can you believe it?" Taron said excitedly. "He told me that he thought about me all the time because he tried to go get help after I fell into the well, but got lost."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What a thoughtful person," Richard said, swallowing harshly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He asked me for forgiveness," Taron continued, shaking his head in disbelief. "He’s the sweetest and most beautiful person I have ever seen in my life, Richard."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard had to agree with him on that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"When he looks at me...well he looks at me in a weird way ... he looks intently, and his eyes are so blue, and his head is always tilted a little to the side, and he's always smiling but not showing his teeth." Taron described him so dreamily, and perfectly, Richard had to smile. He already knew all that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What about his ears?" Richard asked without thinking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What the fuck, Richard?" Taron laughed at him, confused. "His ears are perfect, of course, because he's perfect...all of him."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Just curious," Richard said, rolling his eyes and drinking a bit more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I couldn't take my eyes off his lips," Taron recalled, going on and on. "He was so </span>
  <em>
    <span>flirty, </span>
  </em>
  <span>too. Flirted with me the whole time."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And what happened?" Richard said, pressing his fingers to his temples, feeling a headache coming from this conversation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I would have taken him right there, I must say," Taron said in a boastful way that Richard wasn’t quite fond of. "But I'm a gentleman, of course. So I have invited him to have a drink with me at the village tavern."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So ..." Richard said, trying to divert and get himself out of the conversation. "You took him for a drink, then what?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well he told me they live in the city walls, and his father works in the palace. But Froy sometimes joins his father for palace errands, traveling to the surrounding villages."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Interesting, Richard thought. His fairy was very resourceful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So... I told him that I’ll be delivering furniture to the palace in just a few days, and he said we could meet somewhere inside the city then," Taron said, smug. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard didn’t like it. He finished the glass of whiskey and immediately poured himself another.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'll see him again in only a few days," Taron said, with an enrapt look on his face. "I wonder if he's a virgin," he added. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard didn’t need to hear him talk about Froy that way. He scowled. He wished he could tell Taron right now that it wasn’t any of his business, and in fact no, Froy wasn't a virgin at all, and that he knew it because he had been Froy’s first. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he would never speak such things. "Oh keep it in your pants, Taron," Richard finally said, annoyed. "You said yourself he's just a boy."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh no, my friend, he is not just a boy. He knows what he’s doing. How to tease a man, and flirt … and the idea of seeing us in the city was his, so really he asked </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span> out,” Taron beamed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ok, so. How did you leave it?" Richard said, wanting to end this all as soon as possible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We took a little stroll through the forest after leaving the tavern, and I ..." he said, leaning in close to Richard, as is telling a big secret. "I confess, I tried to kiss him ... but he didn’t let me," Taron said, exasperated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard’s heart had stopped for a moment, but now he could feel it beating again. "So...now what?" he asked, feeling dizzy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That was it," Taron said with a shrug. "I must wait a few days to see him again, and then my friend, I assure you that I plan to find out if he is a virgin," he laughed rather lewdly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard wanted more than </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything</span>
  </em>
  <span> to tell him that wasn't going to happen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm happy for you," Richard lied to his friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thank you, Richard," Taron said, patting his knee.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Now you can sleep peacefully, I guess," Richard said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes, after pleasuring myself...at least twice," he cracked a smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh God, Taron ... I don't need to know that!" Richard frowned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sorry, I couldn't help myself," Taron said, grinning wickedly again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Get out of here," Richard finally said, unable to take much more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taron finished their glass of whiskey and said goodbye to Richard with a hug. Richard felt conflicted, but at least in all this, there was no longer any resentment. With some hope, soon this and everything else would be forgotten between them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard stepped out into his garden and walked to the fence that separated it from the wild woods.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ok...wherever you are, now I want to hear your version!" he demanded into the night air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Impatient?" Froy said over his shoulder, suddenly standing right behind him, nearly killing Richard with fright.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fuck, Froy!" Richard yelled with a start, and gripped his chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I’ll tell you all...come on," Froy said, leading Richard and striding right into his house. He slipped off his long hood and cloak, and reclined comfortably on the couch. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is it true that he wanted to kiss you?” Richard asked, pouting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah ... poor thing," Froy recalled, smiling. "Although ... I can’t say I was not tempted," he teased.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Froy...please, you are fucking kidding me, right?" Richard asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well just a little curious! He was a gentleman, and he’s funny, handsome...his body looks pretty strong,” Froy said, winking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard couldn't believe Froy was toying with him, and saw no humor in it. Luckily, his fairy quickly read the discomfort on his face, and tried to soothe him. "Alright, alright...it was just an appreciation, that’s all." he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ok, well...what is your plan?" Richard asked, trying to control the negative emotions that had come up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He will go into the city walls to meet me... but I won’t be there."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How does that work?" Richard asked, confused. "When he returns to the village he will just want to try to find you again."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, he won't," Froy said, sounding absolutely certain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You have no idea how stubborn he is," Richard insisted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He will realize by himself that I’m not interested. And he will return to the village with a... clear head," Froy said, somewhat mysteriously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't know, Froy..."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Richard ..." said the fairy, standing up. "Can you just trust me?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I am trying to, I really try, Froy… he is just so determined to have you, you don’t know..."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Only one man can have me," Froy said, coming closer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"His heart will break," Richard said sadly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Froy shook his head. "No. He'll be fine."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How can you be sure?" Richard just wanted to know.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Can we stop talking about him, please?" asked the fairy.  "I spent enough of the day with him."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm just worried about him, he's my best friend," Richard admitted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know," Froy said sweetly, hugging him around his neck. "You are also his best friend. He has spoken very kindly of you, all day," Froy said with a kiss.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Really?" Richard said, craning his neck to look at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes ... he appreciates your friendship very much… even if I think that deep down he’s still in love with you," Froy said with a soft smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard tried to push that thought out of his mind, and stroked Froy's cheek. "That's in the past," he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I can sympathize with him," the fairy whispered against his lips. "Who wouldn't love a man like you forever?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard kissed him so hard he was afraid he might hurt him, but Froy’s reaction was not of pain. On the contrary, he intensified the kiss even more, climbing onto Richard’s body in one quick leap, tangling his legs around his waist.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In just a short time, both were a mess of moans and sweat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They hadn't even made it to the bed. Richard lifted Froy up onto the small wooden table by the fireplace, and they were about to finish. Froy was leaned over the table and Richard was behind him, squeezing the skin of his hip, pushing harder and harder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t kiss me like this,” said the fairy, sounding hungry, almost angry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I can… come here.” Richard showed him, leaned further over him and grabbed his neck, twisting him until he could get his head close enough to devour his lips, feeling Froy’s choke out a final moan into his mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard sometimes wondered how the hell they survived each other every night.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>_</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Every day, Richard had to put up with Taron talking about the beautiful young man named Froy, as he counted them down until his trip to the city.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Taron ..." Richard finally said, cautious. "What if he's not there?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What do you mean?" Taron asked, as if it were impossible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I don't know ... how will you know he’s there?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taron shrugged it off. "He said he will be, he’ll be helping his father and the palace servants."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That didn't answer Richard's question, but he decided not to persist.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He felt a lot of anguish to see his best friend so happy, so excited about this trip, when he knew what was really to happen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Can I ask you a favor?" Richard asked nervously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Of course I'll go see your parents," Taron said with a warm smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How did you know?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You don't need to ask me that, my friend," Taron continued. "Your family's ranch is very close to the city walls and it would be my honor of course to go check in on them after such a long time."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thank you," Richard said, emotional.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taron smiled at him, bright as the sun, and Richard's heart broke a little more. He felt terrible about what had to happen but he wasn’t deliberately willing to hurt him. It was for his own good.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Two days later they said goodbye to each other in front of the wood shop. Taron and Mr. Fletcher already had the furniture loaded and tied inside the cart, that would be drawn by two horses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard hugged his friend and gave him a letter to take to his family, as well as a bag full of coins.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Take good care of yourself, please," Richard asked, almost tearful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It will only be a week," Taron replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know ... I'll be here for you always." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know," Taron said, a little perplexed by the emotional display.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Enough you two," said Mr. Fletcher. "Time to go, Taron."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard just stood there, watching as his best friend got farther and farther away. "I'm so sorry," he whispered when he couldn't see him anymore.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>_</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard was in a terrible mood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smoked one of those cigarettes Brandon sold sneakily at the tavern. It was common tobacco mixed with some special leaves that grew on the outskirts of the forest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The leaves relaxed him and helped him sleep sometimes. He used to smoke it with Taron when they first came to the village together. The memory of that time didn't do him any good, so he inhaled the smoke one more time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His fairy didn’t seem to be very happy, looking at him with a disgusted face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Do you know that those leaves have a sap that damages your brain?" Froy warned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It’s what I need now," Richard tried to explain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why do you </span>
  <em>
    <span>need</span>
  </em>
  <span> to damage your brain?" Froy asked, confused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Because I don’t want to think."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What don’t you want to think about?" Froy asked, genuinely concerned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard sighed. "Must I really say it?" he asked, a little annoyed. "Taron is on his way to the city, he will be devastated when he returns, heartbroken, and I will be the one to blame."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I have told you many times that you must trust me," Froy said with a half smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know, I’m trying, I’m just disturbed by the idea that we are hurting him."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well ..." said the fairy, getting more comfortable in bed. "Since we are going to talk about him all night… do you want to tell me what really happened between you two?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard stubbed out the cigarette and took a deep breath, ready to stir things from his past, picking at an old wound that had already healed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We were just kids when we met in the city," he began. "I think we were six years old, maybe seven. Our parents sent us to the house of an old woman to teach us to read and write. A lot of the children went there."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Froy was looking at him attentively, intrigued by the history of the friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Taron's father died suddenly in the winter," Richard continued. "His mother remarried a few years later and had daughters, his two little sisters ... it was a hard time for Taron to go through."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I see … so what happened?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We were around 19 years old,” he said. “Taron started drinking a great deal of alcohol, and going to the pleasure houses. This caused great stress to his mother. Then, one summer night we were both swimming in one of the lakes near my ranch ... and he kissed me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Froy nodded. "What did you feel?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"An immense joy," Richard replied honestly. "I suddenly knew … I just knew I wanted to kiss him for a long time."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And what about him? Did he feel the same?" Froy asked, immensely patient.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He was mostly just … very confused,” Richard recalled. “One day he would come and tell me that we must only be friends, and what we were doing was wrong. We would stop. But then the next day he told me that he wanted me, that I turned him on … we ended up, going off in some corner of the ranch. Experimenting… you don’t want to hear about this," Richard said, shaking his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Alright. Then tell me how you came to be here?" Froy asked instead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard took a deep breath, happy to move on. "Taron's family moved here because his stepfather got a better job," he said. “My grandfather had always lived in this village."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"In this house?" Froy asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, exactly here. My grandfather was ill, and I told my dad that I wanted to take care of him and keep up the work of the orchard, but ... in truth, I did it to be with Taron, to stay close to him," Richard hung his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What happened to your grandfather?" Froy asked with great concern.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He died a few months later. I kept everything I had brought and stayed here, started a life alone here. I wanted a free life, to be able to do everything I wanted."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And you accomplished that?" Froy asked earnestly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I suppose, in my way. It was strange, living here alone at first, but I got used to it "</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And what about Taron?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Taron couldn't find his path. He still can't," Richard recounted. "He became a good hunter, but a better thief. He could never tolerate injustice and differences between the people of the villages and the city.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What differences?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Some have a lot and others have very little, so Taron stole some things from the richest and took them to those who truly needed it, the poorest of the poor."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That is noble ... I think," Froy said as if he were pondering this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard sighed. "Well, that question could be a topic for a very long debate."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So what finally happened between you two?" Froy asked seriously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We did spend a lot of time together. Taron stayed here many nights. This was our private place, a place we could be ...intimate. But the people of the village began to talk about us," Richard said ruefully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Froy frowned. "What kind of talk?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, we are both young, and we never showed interest in any of the girls in the village, as was expected. We were the subject of gossip,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, I see," Froy said. Richard wasn’t sure he really got it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Taron wasn't pleased about that, couldn't live with it. So he started doing the same things he did in the city. He got drunk in the tavern, flirted with girls he didn’t really care about, and went to the house of pleasure, as the other men did. It was </span>
  <em>
    <span>expected,</span>
  </em>
  <span>" Richard said, a bit bitterly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And what about you?" Froy asked eagerly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I stayed right here," Richard said. "I didn’t need to pretend to be something that I’m not. I don’t care what the village thinks of me or my life. Besides, Taron always came back."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He did?" Froy looked surprised.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard nodded sadly. "Oh yes. He would sneak into my house at night, crawl into my bed, say how sorry he was, over and over. Then kiss me ... and I always fell for it. Because it was so exciting to have someone...want that," Richard said awkwardly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Froy nodded and touched his chest softly. "When did you decide to stop?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We actually never did. We didn’t quite stop,” Richard confessed, feeling horrible. “Sometimes I resist him, sometimes he resists me … sometimes neither of us can resist.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then it can happen again,” Froy quickly deduced, looking very sad.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>No,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Richard assured him. “Because since I met you everything has changed. My life changed, and I love it now. I no longer want to be with anyone else but you,” he promised Froy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Froy caressed his cheek. "I'm always going to be with you, Richard," he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard smiled. He already knew that, but it always did him good to hear Froy tell him in his sweet voice, his beautiful song.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>_</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard’s orchard, his work, and Froy helped him survive the very long week.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was at the market when he heard that Taron had at last returned from his trip.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He left his stall as soon as he could and made his way quickly to Taron’s house and was greeted by his mother. Taron had already cleaned himself up, and was in his room preparing to rest after the long journey.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Taron?" he called him, pushing the door open familiarly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, Richard, my dear friend," Taron replied cheerfully, enveloping Richard with a long hug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you alright? How was your trip?" Richard asked, nervous.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes, I’m fine, of course. Everything went well in the palace, and the road was safe,” he replied. “I'm very tired, that's all,” Taron smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You must be exhausted..." Richard said, watching his friend climb into his bed and cover himself with the blankets.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'll come by, and tell you all about your family tomorrow, alright?" Taron said. "I'm tired for now, but know that they are fine."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, thank you my friend, what a relief," Richard said, feeling at least some of his tension leave his body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're always welcome, Richard," Taron said, somewhat meaningfully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So ..." Richard asked, both curious and impatient. "Aren’t you going to tell me, how did it go with Froy?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taron looked at him strangely, frowning, as if disoriented. "Froy? Is that a person’s name?" Taron asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard thought that maybe he wasn’t clear, so he asked again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You know ..." Richard said calmly. "The young man you met in the forest, the one who asked you for help that day ..."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taron yawned. "Look, Richard, I'm quite tired. I don't know who the young man you are talking about is, but if he’s handsome you can tell me about it tomorrow. I’d just like some sleep now."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taron closed his eyes and turned over to sleep, leaving Richard standing there dumfounded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>How could Taron not remember him?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard walked quietly to his friend's writing desk, and there he saw the drawing of Froy's face. It was right there, and it was real … it had all been real, but Taron didn't remember him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Froy ..." he whispered as he looked at his face in the drawing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What had his fairy done?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The forest that once heard them moan with pleasure now heard them moan with sorrow.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is the last chapter... but don't worry, we have an epilogue next week.</p><p>Thank you to the gorgeous @drinkingstars</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Inside Richard's humble home, they lay naked in bed, their bodies still tangled. Froy played his finger along the features of Richard's face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You are so beautiful," he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Aw...thanks," RIchard said, blushing and staring at him. "But that's not the only thing I want to hear."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What else exactly do you want to hear?" Froy asked, tracing the bone of his nose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What did you do? To Taron?" Richard asked again. He had already asked twice before, but the fairy evaded his question each time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I didn't do anything to him, I already told you," Froy sighed. "It was the forest itself."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But how? How can the forest do this?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It just can. It has its own magic," Froy explained, showing as much patience as he could.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But how?" Richard urged the fairy to tell him more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The forest protects us. It has ways … it would be very complicated for you to understand, Richard."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you saying that you don’t think I can understand something, even if you explain it to me?” Richard asked, somewhat offended. "I'm not stupid, you know."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Of course you're not stupid," Froy said, kissing him slowly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard let himself be wrapped up and soothed by the softness of that kiss, but his need to know more persisted. "So explain it to me … exactly what happened. Please," he demanded, pulling away from Froy’s kiss suddenly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's all I can tell you, Richard," he explained wearily. "The forest has its own magic and protects its creatures. I needed to be protected from Taron, and the forest found a way. That's all there is.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard still didn't understand, and he didn't want to ask again. But deep inside him he thought that Froy was hiding something from him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"This was what you wanted," reminded Froy, stroking Richard’s cheek. "Taron doesn't even know I exist, and no one has hurt him."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes ... but ..." Richard tried, one last time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Shh ..." the fairy whispered, resting his finger to Richard’s lips. "Just trust me"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard gave up, and sighed. "I trust you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Can I kiss you now, or do you want to keep talking about this?" Froy asked, teasing him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard smiled. “Maybe I could put my mouth to better use.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Show me,” Froy said excitedly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard was eager to show him, and Froy to find out… again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>_</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taron came to Richard’s house for lunch, soon after his journey.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you feeling more rested?" Richard asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mmm ... yes," he said, stretching his arms. "My mother says I slept nearly eighteen hours."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's the worst part of that road,” Richard said sympathetically. “There is no inn, or any safe place to rest."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two of them sat at the small wooden table to eat and catch up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So ..." began Richard, nervous. "How are they?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taron put down his spoon, and frowned. "Not the best. They need you, Richard. Their ranch is just so large. There is much work to do, too much for one person alone."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard took a deep breath, trying to ease the pain he felt at the reminder of his own selfishness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Have they no farmhand? Any help?" Richard bit his lip.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taron shook his head. "They have all gone, left for better work in the city."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"My mother helps … but my father is working alone?" Richard asked, confused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, Richard. He is not working at all," Taron said carefully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What? What do you mean?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taron pulled his chair closer and covered Richard’s hand with his own. "He doesn't walk, Richard," he finally confessed. "After he fell off the horse, his injuries were ... he began to lose the strength of his legs. And now, I am sorry to say, he no longer feels them."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What? ..." Richard asked, feeling his eyes fill with tears.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He is in a good spirit, I assure you, Richard," Taron added to try to calm him down. "When he saw me he was so happy, and he was able to hug me from his wheelchair, and we all had a lovely lunch and visit..."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He is in a wheelchair?" Richard interrupted, alarmed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes, my friend. I'm so sorry," Taron looked at him gently, trying to be a comfort.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And you have given them my coins? Do they have enough money?" Richard nearly sobbed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes, I did, and they had coins saved from before. They’re fine in that regard, Richard,” he tried to assure him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard stood from the table and walked the floor of his small house, feeling panicked and suffocated. He picked up the letter from his mother and read it again. "So she lied to me, here," he said, holding it out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"She hasn’t lied to you, Richard," said Taron, standing to go and put a hand on his shoulder. "You know that letter took quite a long time to arrive. This development with your father's condition is very recent," Taron said sadly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And how is the ranch itself?" Richard asked dejectedly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The orchard is overgrown, wild. The sheep graze but are not sheared. The cows do not get milked, but are healthy. The horses are fine but bored with no work or riders," Taron said slowly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Worry and panic washed over him in waves. "Oh God…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"My friend," said Taron, squaring off and looking him in the eye. "It is time for you to make a decision. You must decide to take over the ranch, or see that it is sold."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How could I be so selfish, Taron?" Richard cried, feeling his tears fall down his cheek. "How could I abandon my parents like this?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You didn't abandon them," Taron said, softly wiping his tears away. "You took care of your grandfather when he had no one, and then you made your own life, in your own way."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That sounds very selfish to me," Richard grumbled miserably.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How can it be selfish to live your own life? To want happiness?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I‘m not what they want in a son," Richard said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You’re what every parent wants in a son, Richard," Taron said, too kindly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Not true. I’m not and you know this. I'm not being honest with them," Richard said under his breath, ashamed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Parents don't need to know all of a son’s private, personal life," Taron said, trying to help.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Richard was too devastated to hear it. He felt guilty, ashamed, irresponsible, dirty, sad. He hugged his friend with all his strength and let those feelings flow out of his body in the tears that soaked Taron’s shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>_</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually they found their way to the solace of the tavern.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They didn't speak of Froy again. They didn’t need to, as Taron didn’t remember him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>On his way home again Richard saw Mr. Phill with one of his sheep, and suddenly had a thought. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Phill was one of the oldest in the village, loved and respected, he had lived there much of his life and had been a great hunter. He must have known something about the creatures of the forest, at some point in his life he must have seen something, something incredible, something that would make sense of all this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mr. Phill?" he called after him. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, hello young man. Of course," he agreed. He passed the sheep’s rope to Richard for him to hold onto. "Come, come, my house is right this way."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mrs. Phil was still at the market, and they were alone in the cozy house. Mr. Phil was very kind to serve him bread with goat cheese, which was delicious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So. How can I be of assistance today?" the old man asked, sitting across from him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You knew my grandfather, did you not?" Richard began.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh of course, how can I forget my old friend Dick," he replied excitedly. "In fact, you and your friend Taron remind me of us when we were young. Thick as thieves, you are."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard smiled lightly, but silently hoped his grandfather and Mr. Phill weren't </span>
  <em>
    <span>exactly</span>
  </em>
  <span> as close as they had been, once.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Concentrate, Richard. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He shook his head to clear that thought away. "Actually, it is about Taron," Richard said. "I’m quite worried about him. That's what I wanted to speak about."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Tell me what worries you, young man," Mr. Phill said, pouring himself a glass of milk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He’s not the same, after what happened to them all in the forest," Richard said cautiously. "After that day, Taron kept speaking of … he spoke often of a boy he thought he saw. A strange young man."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, I see," Mr. Phill said, nodding with interest. “Please tell me more.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well he … he seemed a bit obsessed with this young man, and he believed … he believed he wasn’t human.” Richard took a breath. “But then he went to the city with Mr. Fletcher, and when he returned … he no longer remembered that mysterious young man at all. Have you ever heard of such a thing, sir?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Phil put his glass of milk aside and took on a more serious, thoughtful air, as if thinking back far into his long life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Have you heard of the old legends of this forest, son?" Mr. Phill asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes… I have heard some things, but I wasn’t sure people believed... do you believe in those things?" Richard asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What I believe doesn't matter, Richard," Mr. Phill said, waving his hand. "What matters is the truth."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And what is the truth?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The truth is that this forest is older than much of this earth, and full of mysteries … of wonderful creatures, among those mysteries. We simply cannot prove them."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But why?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Because we forgot them," Mr. Phill whispered. "Just like what happened to your friend Taron … it has happened to many before him."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How though?" Richard asked, surprised by this confirmation. "How can they all forget what they see?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, that’s the mystery, my boy," he answered with a shrug. "But I can assure you that if I’ve seen something, some inexplicable mystery in that forest ... I cannot tell you, because I don't remember it."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mr. Phill seemed satisfied with this explanation, but not so, Richard. "What do you think is happening to people? What causes them to forget?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, after many, many years, I have been able to deduce one thing ..." Mr. Phill said, tantalizingly holding Richard’s attention.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What, what did you deduce?" he asked, rapt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"All those who leave this village, leave the very outskirts of this land, you see … when they return, certain things they have seen, they will no longer remember."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And you believe that to be true, Mr. Phill?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well ... many of my friends, even your grandfather, have talked about seeing strange creatures in that forest," he said. "But the moment they leave this land, for trade, for family, for exploration ... upon their return, they simply no longer remember."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard's heart began to beat very fast.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Taron is not crazy, dear boy," said the man. "He probably forgot something that is too fantastic for his mind to understand."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thank you, sir," Richard stumbled to shake his hand and take leave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The return to his house was the longest of his life. His entire body was shaking and the pain in his chest wasn’t letting him breathe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That couldn't be true, Mr. Phill had to be wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard entered his house and went quickly out back to his garden. Without stopping walking he entered the forest, he didn’t care that the sun was setting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He needed to find him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He needed to hear Froy tell him that wasn’t true.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had never felt so desperate.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Froy!" he yelled, hearing his own voice echoing through the vast forest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He walked and walked, the moon already lighting his way until he realized that he was lost. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he trusted Froy, and Froy had told him many times that nothing bad would happen to him in the forest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fuck!" he cursed wearily, kicking a rock that tumbled across his path and splashed into a nearby lake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He dropped to the ground by the water, defeated. His anguish squeezed his chest and he could no longer hold back his tears.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He couldn't forget Froy, that wasn't possible. He couldn’t live without him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hello?" called an unfamiliar voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard startled and got to his feet, taking a defensive posture with his whole body. That wasn't Froy's voice, it didn't even sound like a song.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Who's there?" he asked, looking around through the trees.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Here… in the lake," said the voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard approached carefully through the trees and saw someone in the water. She seemed to be a woman, partially submerged in the lake. From here he could only see her eyes, glittering and watching him with curiosity.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Who are you?" he asked, surprised.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I’m Cheryl," she replied, her voice soft and kindly now. "And who are you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm just looking for Froy," Richard stammered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman rose slightly out of the water, only as high as her shoulders. Richard was surprised to see her there. She had dark hair and looked beautiful, normal as any woman, with the small but very noticeable detail of the gills of a fish, on either side of her neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard recalled hearing about water nymphs, but had assumed those were only tales as well … he knew better now, and wondered if this was one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh … Froy, yes, the beautiful fairy," she said sweetly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes, have you seen him near here?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What is a human doing here asking for a fairy? And calling him by his true name?" she asked, tilting her head curiously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I, I just ..." Richard said, suddenly feeling nervous. "I just wanted to ask him something … I mean no harm."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, very well,” she said enigmatically. “Come closer to the water, and I'll tell you where to find him."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard couldn’t do it. He wanted to trust Froy, but he had heard too many stories of dead fishermen in the forest lakes. That had seemed absurdly crazy years ago, but now that he knew all of this world could be real… at the moment it seemed very real, and very dangerous.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I think … I think I can find him by myself. Thank you, Cheryl," he said, backing away carefully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you sure?" she called after him. "The forest is so large. I know where he is ..."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard was debating between several possibilities: come closer to her and get killed; come closer to her and get a real response; just run away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But then Richard remembered what Froy had promised him, that nothing bad would happen to him in that forest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He began to slowly approach the lake and knelt in the grass, keeping some distance between himself and the water nymph.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wow ..." the woman whispered as she looked over him. "He really loves you, Froy."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"As much as I do him," Richard heard Froy’s voice, that beautiful song, right behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turned and saw him there, covered as always by his long hood, staring back at Richard with his beautiful blue eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Goodbye for now, Richard,” he heard Cheryl’s voice, but when he turned back toward the lake, saw only ripples moving on the water.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How does she know my name?" he asked Froy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I talk to Cheryl about you," Froy said, moving closer. “All the time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard shook his head, trying to refocus and clear up all those doubts that were eating him up inside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Froy ... I ..." he began, taking a deep breath. "I feel like I'm going crazy."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why is that, my love?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I need to ask you something, and I need you to tell me the truth."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Of course," Froy said gently.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard took another deep breath, the pressure in his heart not letting him breathe. "If I leave this village ..." he said. "If I leave these lands, will I forget you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?" Froy asked, surprised. "Who told you that?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It doesn't matter, Froy ... just tell me that's not possible, that's not true."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the fairy didn't respond. Richard felt himself grow faint.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Froy? Please, you must tell me..."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That doesn't matter either, Richard," Froy responded, stroking his cheek. "You told me you would never leave me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Of course it matters, Froy," he whispered, trembling. "I will never leave you, never ... of course I don’t wish to. But I must go to see my family."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Where is your family?" Froy asked, adopting a look of fear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"They live on a ranch, outside the city," Richard explained. "My father can no longer work, my mother is too tired from doing it all herself. You see, I must go to help them."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But ... but," said the fairy, while his eyes filled with tears. "You would never leave me, you said so ...you said."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Froy, I need you to tell me this, I need to hear it from your mouth," he said, raising his voice seriously, feeling desperate. "Am I really going to forget you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The fairy still didn't respond, but a tear fell down his cheek, and Richard felt himself dying inside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I am going to forget you," Richard whispered, as the horrible conclusion washed over him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Froy hugged him, clinging to his body desperately. "No ... no ..." he murmured in his ear, crying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh my god ..." Richard groaned, clinging to the fairy's body in the same way. "I'm going to forget you if I go."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, I won’t allow that," said Froy, swallowing his tears. "I won’t allow you to forget me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two lovers stayed there, embraced, terrified at the thought of continuing to live without the other. The forest that once heard them moan with pleasure now heard them moan with sorrow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>_</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two walked through the forest hand in hand until they reached Richard's house. They promised to speak honestly about the past, the present and the uncertain future, but the impulse of their bodies was stronger, and they gave themselves to each other, they needed to feel, they needed to become one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How can I forget what it feels like to have you in my arms?" Richard whispered against his lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You will have me again," Froy promised with a kiss.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"When?" Richard asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"As soon as I can …” Froy said mysteriously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That sounds like too long," Richard said, smiling sadly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Then let's not waste any more time," the fairy said as he climbed on top of Richard’s body, and they both fell back on the bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Make me moan, loud and clear," demanded the fairy, while they quickly took their clothes off. "So loud that you can still hear me in your dreams."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'll dream of you every night," Richard whispered into his ear. "Because I'm not going to forget you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Give it to me, please, do it hard … so I can still feel you inside until we see each other again,” Froy begged.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His body twisted back deliciously as Richard entered him, taking advantage of the exposed skin on Froy’s neck to bite, hard enough to mark him, he hoped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Froy moaned loudly, filling every corner of his little house with his sound, laden with all their lust and love and honesty.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>How could he forget that? Richard thought. The sound of his voice, the softness of his skin, or the sweetness of his lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No magic was powerful enough to make him forget how much he loves him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>_</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Exhausted in bed, their brains came back to reality, and they could no longer flee their problems for pleasure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How many times have I been in love with you?" Richard asked, holding him in his arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Just this once" he replied, playing with the hairs on Richard’s chest. "And you will do it again, and again, and as many times as necessary."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, yeah?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes, I'll make sure of that."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But you told me that you were not going to allow me to forget you"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Froy sat up on the bed and took a deep breath before speaking. "There is nothing we can do, Richard," he confessed. "The forest has its own magic and it is to be done."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How does that magic work? "</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It’s a very ancient magic," he explained. "From the oldest times when humans started to walk the earth."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"From the time of the creatures?" Richard asked, trying to imagine it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The creatures were born from the forest itself… the magic too. The magic is older than me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But where does it live, the magic? Where exactly?" Richard asked more questions that might sound silly, but he was just trying to understand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The magic is everywhere … it’s in the wind," Froy said. "Where the forest wind can no longer reach you … that is where you forget."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The forest protects its creatures," Richard repeated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"These villages, your village, shouldn’t exist. But that is something that we could not hold off forever," said Froy. "The world is big enough for us to live together, but we must also protect ourselves."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Tell me about your parents, then," asked Richard. "Didn’t your father ever forget your mother?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, quite a few times,according to the stories I have been told,” Froy said with a sad laugh. “But that stopped once I was born. My mother told my father about the magic of the forest, and he no longer dared to leave, because he was afraid of forgetting me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So when your father forgot… he got to fall in love with your mother over and over again,” Richard said, somewhat romantically. He never felt like this before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The mind forgets, Richard, not the heart," Froy explained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What are we going to do?" Richard asked, his mind whirling with all this information.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You will go to see your parents as soon as possible. And then … then you will have to trust me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No ... no, I can’t let this happen," Richard moaned sorrowfully again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"There is nothing we can do, but we must try. It is our only choice," Froy said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What about my memories of us? I don't want to forget our first kiss, the roses, our passionate encounters in the forest ...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We will recover all those memories again. And when we do, it will be forever, Richard. I promise you that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Please, make it as soon as you can."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Trust me," Froy nodded solemnly</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard kissed him again, very hard and very deep, in case it was the last time. For all he knew, it may be.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>_</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A new day was breaking in the sky, and Richard preparing to leave his home, lost in his feelings and in his thoughts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Froy's drawing lay on the table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard took his pen and ink, and began to write on the back the paper.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>     Maybe you don't understand it now, but the young man in the drawing is called Froy and you love him like you will never love anyone in your life.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>    His eyes are sky blue, his skin pale and perfect, with freckles on his nose. His hair is blond and long enough to cover his pointed ears, because he is not human.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>    He is a forest fairy, and he is extremely powerful and passionate. He belongs to you.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>    That forest has its own magic, and it protects its creatures, that is the reason why you cannot remember him. You forgot him when you left the village, but you have only forgotten him in your head, not in your heart.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>     You must trust him and wait for him, because he will look for you, and you will fall in love with him again.</span>
  </em>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Two short knocks on his wooden door roused him from those thoughts for a moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The door creaked open and the face of his best friend appeared, trying to hide his sadness behind a brave smile. "It's time, Richard," Taron said, stepping inside. "Do you have everything you need?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard took a deep breath and put the drawing carefully inside his suitcase. "Yes, I do now."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Come on. I will walk with you to the edge of the village."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thank you, my friend," Richard said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'll come to visit you in the summer," Taron said. "And I'll write to you every week with news."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You know you can stay here, if you like," said Richard. "Your sisters are growing up and you have no privacy. Here, you can have your own place."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thank you, Richard. And I will do just that," Taron said. "I'm going to enjoy that beautiful garden of yours."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, you can sell the vegetables? If you wish."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Can you really see me as a farmer?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, maybe not. But I know you will put those vegetables in the right hands. Many people in the village will need them."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"See? You know me so well."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm going to miss you, Taron."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Me too ... but we'll see each other soon," he smiled bittersweetly. "I still remember the gorgeous lake, near their ranch. Maybe we’ll swim in it again, in the summer."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richard smiled, of course he remembered it too… it was so beautiful to be able to remember, and now he would see it again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He left Taron at the outskirts of the village and made his way further and further away, through the forest and onward. He knew that beyond there, with each step he would begin to forget. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he also trusted his fairy, he trusted that they would be together again... that was the only thing he could hold on to at that moment, that trust. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was their love.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This is the end, my friends. Thank you very much for the support and the beautiful messages. Froy and Richard are together again, and I am so happy for them.<br/>Special thank you to my dear friend and beta @drinkingstars</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was a hot summer night. The sun was no longer shining in the sky, but they could still feel it on their skin. The wind was absent, and the leaves of the trees were still, suffering from the suffocating heat like them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Come on, Richard!" Taron yelled, running towards the lake.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I’ll come with you but I’m not goin’ into the lake!" Richard protested, jogging a little behind him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron began to remove his clothes until he was completely naked in front of him. "Come on, friend! It's so hot!" he said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don't know ... there is something strange about that lake," Richard said, staying firmly on the shore.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Like what?" Taron asked, insisting annoyingly and trying to unbutton Richard’s shirt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I always have the feeling that someone is watching me..." Richard said, knocking Taron’s hands away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Maybe they want to join us," he grinned, provocatively.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Idiot," Richard replied, pushing him off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Come on, Richard ..." Taron demanded again as he sprinted and flung himself into the lake. "This heat is stronger than fear," he yelled as he splashed in the water.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard considered it for a moment. It was </span>
  <em>
    <span>very</span>
  </em>
  <span> hot and they had worked all day. Maybe a delicious break in the water was what he needed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard sighed and stripped off his shirt, boots, and pants, all under Taron's leering gaze.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh no, no ..." said Taron when he was down to his undershorts only. "Totally naked, like me ... I demand equality."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard chewed on his lip, wondering if it would be one of those somewhat regrettable nights where neither of them could resist.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He waded into the lake slowly, nervously, observing everything around him and staying very close to the shore.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Don't be afraid, come on!" Taron said, dragging him to the middle of the lake, where the water dropped off, much deeper. "We have known this lake since we were children."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Everything has changed since we were children," Richard reminded, something nagging at his mind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Mmm ... some things yes, other things no," Taron said as he hugged Richard around his neck, pressed his entire naked body against his.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Wait ..." Richard said uncertainty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You need this," Taron whispered against his lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That was true. Richard did crave physical contact, and he wished to find true passion… but he didn’t find that with Taron.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Something felt very wrong with that kiss. He no longer felt what he had felt in the past, and something inside him felt ashamed today. However, he didn’t dare to reject his dear friend. He had been there by his side, faithful companion, loyal and patient during that difficult summer after the death of his father, of his mother deciding to move with his sister to the city, leaving the ranch entirely to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Loosen up a bit, Richard," Taron said, kissing him again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I told you this lake makes me nervous," Richard said, putting him off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"There is no one around, it’s just the two of us," Taron insisted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard took a deep breath trying to relax and enjoy the caresses on his back and the kisses on his neck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I … I’m sorry Taron, I can't ..." he said apologetically, pulling away from his friend.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron looked at him, a little sadly, but also just resigned and maybe tired of this game with Richard. it wasn’t the first time they started something and then Richard just ...didn’t. Richard felt badly for leading him on, but he also still felt something so strange, being in the lake. It seemed to fill him with worry and uncertainty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well ... anyway, we have cooled off nicely now. Maybe we should..." Taron started, but then yelped and jumped in shock. "Oh my God!" he suddenly screamed in terror.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What?!" Richard asked, alarmed. "What happened?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Something grabbed my ankle! Like a fucking creepy hand!" Taron said, almost crying in panic. “Oh, my fucking God… let’s get the hell out of here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I told you something was weird here!” Richard screamed himself, pushing and following Taron through the water to get them both quickly toward the shore.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They picked their clothes up off the ground and ran back toward the ranch, naked the whole way.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Far from all of this, the beautiful fairy Froy was sitting in the grass with his feet dangling in the lake.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, that was fun," said Cheryl, the nymph, surfacing from  beneath the bubbles with a mischievous smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What happened?" Froy asked. "Did you see him?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh I could see him, yes. </span>
  <em>
    <span>All</span>
  </em>
  <span> of him," she replied with a smirk. "He was in the lake, swimming... with that awful hunter friend of his."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He’s still there?" Froy asked with a bit of a frown, surprised.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, but don’t worry. I gave him a good scare," Cheryl assured him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That won't make him go away," Froy said, moping.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Maybe this time ..." Cheryl said hopefully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What were they doing?" Froy asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Froy ..." said the nymph, hesitating to give details. "I think the time has come. You must go to him, now."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I still can't, I cannot leave the forest like this," Froy said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The times of men are not the times of fairies," she reminded him as she had many times. "It's been two years in his world."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Two years for him, and an eternity for me," Froy agreed, sadly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Men grow old, Froy. You are wasting valuable time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"At least he’s not suffering," Froy said. "I'm the one who still has all those memories of being together. He has no idea."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I have already told you that I saw him crying on the shore of the lake, many times," Cheryl said. "He’s suffering too, Froy. He just doesn’t know why."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I still need my mother's blessing," Froy said after thinking on Cheryl’s words.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I will take care of your magic," she offered, insisting. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I need her to be the one to do it, Cheryl."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The nymph couldn’t keep arguing this with Froy. She knew the fairy had made his decision, and she couldn’t change his mind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Blue eyes that shone like stars, sometimes innocent, sometimes dangerous. The softest skin he had ever touched. Moans that carried to the far reaches of the night sky.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The dreams kept recurring.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sometimes Richard  would wake up relaxed, rested, even blissful. But other times he woke up sad, anguished and tormented, unable to get back to sleep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Last night had been particularly bad.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The strange young man with blue eyes was walking away from him. He tried to run to catch up with him but he couldn't, he ran and ran but never moved from his place, watching the young man get further and further away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He awoke with a desperate groan.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tried to calm his breathing. There was sweat on his forehead and his hands were shaking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wasn't going to sleep again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He put on his robe and slippers, walked to his wardrobe and opened one of the drawers. There was an envelope there, and inside that envelope was a drawing that had been haunting him since the day he arrived at the ranch, two years ago.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Why are you taking so long?" Richard whispered to the image on the paper. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He went downstairs to the main room and found Taron reading by the lamplight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Bad night?" he asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Looks like you too,” Richard said, sitting next to him and resting his head on his shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, Richard ..." Taron sighed, taking the drawing clutched in Richard’s hand. "Again with this?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Why do I even have this? Who is he?" Richard asked him wearily.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He’s an obsession, my friend," Taron said, shaking his head. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Why did I write that?" Richard balked at his own pen strokes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Maybe you were very drunk when you wrote it," Taron offered as an explanation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you believe in those things?" Richard asked, getting up to pour them two glasses of whiskey.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"In the legends of the forest? Not really … " Taron said uncertainly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I wrote to myself that the young man in the drawing is a fairy...it makes no sense."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well, my friend ..." said Taron, taking his glass of whiskey. "If I see a fairy I will be able to verify it. But since I have never seen one, I can’t. If I don’t see it, I don’t believe it," Taron shrugged and said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Since when are you so rational?" Richard asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm getting old," Taron replied.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You’re not old, you’re younger than me," Richard pointed out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yeah, but look ..." Taron said, touching his hair at his temple. "I could swear I saw some white hair here the other day."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You are ridiculous," Richard said, brushing his fingers over the same hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He felt that tension between them again. Richard’s hand moved from touching his hair to caressing his cheek, and Taron rested his forehead on his.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Ask me to stay here," Taron asked in a nervous whisper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No, I will not do that," he answered firmly. "You don’t belong on this farm. The people of the village want you as their mayor. You will be able to help all those people, at last."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I really don't think I'm the one they want," Taron said, shaking his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You are, you are the one because you care about people, and you want to make changes."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"The first thing I'll do is build a road that connects the village with the city," Taron said, excited. "It will be easier to travel between them, and faster to make the long trip."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"See? You’re already thinking like a politician," Richard smiled, moving apart from him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"And also an inn, part of the way on the road, so people can rest safely before continuing with the trip," Taron suggested, already excited with ideas.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Will you do that to help the people, or so you can get here to see me faster?” Richard said with a grin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron smirked and winked an eye at him, pushing the tension away for a moment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard let it be, and returned to the comfort of his glass of whiskey.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy knew the time had come.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He walked to the tree in the middle of the forest, the first one, the oldest and most powerful. The enchanted spot where it had all started.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sat gently down in the leaves and plants at the base, and placed his hands on the ancient tree trunk.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I wish to leave my power here," he said through tears. "Thank you for taking me in and protecting me just like the creatures that were born from you ... but I wasn’t born from you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy began to feel his body weaken. The cold air bit his skin harshly, and the plants and weeds itched.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I choose to be human, like my father," he declared, stifling his tears.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The leaves of the great tree began to shake in the wind, causing its petals to fall on him. They soon covered him with their soft, sweet smell, warming him like a hug.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you, forest," he whispered in relief.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he stood up, he could feel every stick and rock that poked his feet when he stepped. It was that pain that showed him that he was no longer part of the forest, but a plain human.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He would have to get some shoes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He trudged carefully through the forest floor until he reached the lake, and there he observed his reflection in the water. There were no major changes to his physique or his face, just his ears. They were now rounded at the top and shaped like a regular man's.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A ripple in the water caught his eye. "Are you going to eat me, now that I’m a human man?" he crouched down and asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The nymph Cheryl came swimming up to the surface. She smiled at him from the water. "You will always be a beautiful fairy to me, even if you leave your magic here. You’ll still be safe."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can't wait any longer, Cheryl," Froy said, with grief in his voice. "Richard is finding comfort in the arms of that hunter … I’m here, waiting for a blessing that will never come."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, Froy," Cheryl whispered, sympathetically. "Your mother is </span>
  <em>
    <span>always</span>
  </em>
  <span> with you. Your mother sees you, your mother gives her blessing to everything you do."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But, she is not here," Froy said sadly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"She will come,” Cheryl said. “She will appear when you really need her most."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy shook his head. "I need her now, this is that time..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No," Cheryl said. "You just made a decision that will change your existence forever. And you were brave enough to do it by yourself."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy was left alone as the nymph swam away from him, and he couldn’t stop thinking about her last words. That decision changed everything for him, because for the first time in his life </span>
  <span>he felt fear being in the forest. Could the creatures harm him now?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wasn’t sure. He knew he had to get to Richard as soon as possible, but… how?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was cold, his feet were already hurting from walking and the sun was beginning to set. The most reasonable thing to do, he hoped, was to come to the village and ask for help, trusting in his new human appearance.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He walked toward the village, thinking to head for the pub, when he noticed a tall shadow between the trees. It was a human figure, riding a horse. His heart was pounding, and his body was trembling not with pleasure but with fear. Those were new sensations, new feelings for him... they was horrible.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The figure slowly emerged from among the trees, as if it were part of the same forest, and finally into the path of moonlight so that Froy could see...his breath caught in his throat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh….Mom?" he whispered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There she was at last, wearing the same long hood he was wearing, her long blonde hair peeking out from it. She smiled serenely and slipped down from her horse, opening her arms.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"My sweet boy," she cried.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy threw himself into her arms, and the two fell into a desperate, much longed-for, loving embrace.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His mother had become part of the forest after his father's death. The forest itself had decided that her power was too weak, that the pain she felt was too big. Since they couldn’t protect each other, they had decided to become one, so that she could rest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy could always sense her, when he was talking to a tree, when he healed an animal, or when he smelled a flower. He knew that his mother was there, hearing him. But being able to touch her again was a sensation as real as the pebbles and twigs in his feet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hi Henry," Froy greeted her steed, patting the horse behind his ears, as he remembered he liked it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, my love," said his mother, looking him over carefully. "Your poor feet..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy looked down at them, seeing what she saw, his newly sensitive feet covered in mud and a bit of blood from a cut. "I'm not a fairy anymore, Mom," he confessed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh my sweet son. You will always be a fairy," she replied, pulling him close again. "Come here, let me see."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The two of them sat on the mossy ground and his mother took his feet in her hands, healing them easily with her magic. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I...it’s true. I gave it up. I left my magic in the oldest tree, in the first tree, right where I got it," he tried to tell her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know, my love," she said, stroking his feet. "The trees called to me. I felt what was happening, and I decided that I had rested long enough. Are you ready to tell me why?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I had to do it, Mom. I'm in love," Froy broke down crying as he finally said the words.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, Froy…” she said, looking at him with pride. “You had to make that decision on your own, and you did it. I'm so proud of you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Aren't you mad at me?" Froy asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Why should I be mad at you, my son?" she asked, shocked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well, because… because I gave up my magic, and I chose to be a man. It means… that I will die one day."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Froy," she whispered, bowing her head close to his. "If I would have had a choice, I would have done the same."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Really?" Froy asked, surprised.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"One human-length life with your father would have been my biggest dream," she recalled with melancholy. "It fills me with true happiness to know that my son will have what I could not.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It took me a long time to decide...human years," he explained to her. "I didn't want to leave you with all of this," he said, looking around the forest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You have grown so much, and you are so wise, my Froy,” she said, caressing his cheek. “It is your moment to live your life, to live with the one you love … to live free. It is your choice.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Will I forget you when I leave the forest?" he asked, frightened by the thought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No, no my love, of course not," she replied. "You are part fairy Froy, and the forest knows it. You have protected it very well, and it will always remember you and continue to protect you. Your magic is still here if you decide to return for it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I don’t think I will, Mom," he said with tears in his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They stood up and hugged again, and his mother looked down at his feet, healed now but still barefoot. "You will have to get shoes for your trip," she said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes ... I have a feeling it will be a long journey."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But it will be worth it, because it is for love," his mother said with her eyes gleaming.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy smiled and hugged his mother again, feeling completely relieved, both with her blessing and with knowing that he wasn’t going to forget her now.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I want you to take Henry with you," said his mother.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What?" Froy gasped as she passed the reins into his hands.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"He will take care of you. I will not send you unprotected in the world of humans, even if you have chosen to be one yourself," his mother explained. Froy shook his head as another tear slid down his cheek.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Henry was part fairy too, inside. He was born from the forest long ago, years before Froy was born. He was a very small fairy and had been badly hurt by a human, when their mother found him. She could do nothing to save his body, but she was able to protect the fairy’s soul, and placed his light and magic safely inside her favorite horse. Henry had been part of the family ever since. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you, mom," he cried, hugging her once more.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fairy placed a kiss on her son's forehead and helped him onto the horse.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"True love comes only once in a lifetime, my son," she told him. "And when you find it, it is stronger than any magic in this world."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy thought and felt exactly like his mother, and that made him so happy. Knowing she agreed with his choice brought peace and calm to his heart.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Come on, Henry," he gently nudged the horse’s sides with his heels.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The horse began to move away toward the village, and Froy looked at his mother one last time, seeing a bittersweet glint of pride in her blue eyes that shone like two stars as he left the forest behind him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A storm was approaching, and the sky looked dangerous.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard hurried to shelter the horses to the stable, and got back to the house just as it started to rain and thunder heavily.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was nearly winter, and Taron had been gone for a while. Richard was alone in the huge house, trying to get a handle on all the ranch work by himself, and dealing with his loneliness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He watched through the window as the water fell intensely, forming a curtain that didn't allow him to see beyond a few feet. The wind was whipping the trees violently and the sky was illuminated by constant lightning.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t remember seeing such a strong storm in years.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard took off his rough, wet work clothes, and got more comfortable. He stirred the fire and began to make a cake, slicing apples and stirring them with honey. It was a flavor combination that he had thought of one day, and began to like ever since he settled in his ranch. He didn’t quite know why.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When it was ready in the pan, he put it in the oven and settled in his favorite chair with a glass of whiskey and a book.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was suddenly disrupted when he thought he heard a noise. He tried to concentrate, telling himself it was only the noise of the wind, the water and the thunder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He returned to his reading, beginning to smell the delicious aroma of the cake baking in the warm kitchen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>"Help ..." </span>
  </em>
  <span>a voice said, more distinctly this time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard sat up, startled, because that had been clear. A voice that came from outside.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He leaned to peer out the window but couldn't really see anything for all the rain. He ventured to open the door and step out onto the porch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He could make out a shadow between the darkness and the water that kept falling. It was a person trying to help his horse that was stuck in the mud.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>"Can anyone help me ...!" </span>
  </em>
  <span>asked the person's voice again. It sounded like a young man's voice, but sweet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The storm was terrible, but they were very close to Richard’s house, and Richard knew he had to help. He shook his head clear to stop thinking and ran out into the rain.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hey!" he yelled over the downpour. "Are you okay?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I can't get Henry out of the mud," explained the young man.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard assumed that the horse's name was Henry. The horse was panicking about the storm, and with every kick his legs were digging deeper and deeper into the mud.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Calm down, Henry," said his owner, but it didn't soothe the animal at all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard tried to think as fast as he could in the middle of the storm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Listen to me!" he yelled at the young man, feeling the icy water from the rain getting into his mouth. "I'm going to push Henry from behind while you pull him forward"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"All right, let’s try," the young man yelled back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"We'll have to do it at the same time, okay?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I will...I’ve got his head.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Ready?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard positioned himself by the animal’s flank with his arms outstretched as wide as he could, while the young man clung to the muzzle rope.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"One, two ... pull!" Richard commanded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After making two efforts together, they managed to free the horse, who shook mud and water from himself. Richard slung one leg over, getting on top of the horse and taming him easily. "I'll take him to my stables," Richard explained. "You go inside the house and get warm."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The young man nodded and turned away toward the ranch, while Richard led Henry to the stable. Once there, the horse seemed more calm. Richard petted him and stripped the saddle and stirrups off, while the horse happily ate the leftover hay and vegetables of Richard’s other horses.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You're safe now, my friend," he told him, calmly stroking his side.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard realized that his owner would be hungry too, as well as dirty and wet. There was something comforting to him in this, about having a mysterious guest he was not expecting. At least he had someone to share his cake with.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He ran through the rain through the yard that separated the stable from the ranch, and found the young man waiting for him under the porch. He was about to speak to him and ask him why he didn’t go inside, but the young man threw himself into his arms in a hug full of despair, fear and gratitude.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you," he whispered in Richard’s ear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's alright, it’s alright," Richard replied, touching his back. He was shaking with cold. "Let's go inside."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>_</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The young visitor was cleaning himself up in the bathroom, while Richard took their wet clothes away and changed again in his bedroom. He mopped up the floor, and took the apple and honey cake out of the oven.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was still raining heavily outside. Richard threw another log into the fireplace and made two cups of tea. Finally, he heard the bathroom door close and looked up to properly meet his visitor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wasn’t expecting that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The young man was no longer soaked and muddy, he was clean and fresh, and the clothes Richard had lent him fit him quite well.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was the most beautiful person he had ever seen in his life.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was not as young as he had seemed outside, but a grown man, a beautiful man. His face was perfectly carved, as if it were the work of some sculptor seen in a museum or a palace. His eyes were as blue as a summer sky, and his perfect skin was silky smooth adorned with tiny freckles on his nose.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I ... uh ..." Richard stuttered. His visitor was too beautiful, and made him nervous. "I was just making an apple and honey cake."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"My favorite," he said with a smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>His voice</span>
  </em>
  <span>… his voice sounded like one of those old songs in the back of Richard’s head that he couldn’t remember the words to.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Have a seat," Richard said, trying to keep some composure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Thank you," he said politely.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard sat across from him, cutting large slices of cake with his knife. The young visitor kept staring at him with a glow of curiosity, expectation, and even adoration.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You gave me a great scare," Richard said, trying to break the intense contact of his gaze.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm so sorry," he replied shyly. "That storm just came out of nowhere and Henry got scared … we strayed off the road and then we were lost."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Gosh… he was so beautiful.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"And ... ehhh ... where are you riding from?" Richard asked, his words trembling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"From afar, beyond the forest."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You know of the forest?" Richard asked, surprised.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Yes, of course. I grew up … near it," he said a bit mysteriously.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard took a bite of cake. "There are many legends in that place, no?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It depends what you … if you believe those things or not," he replied, looking at him intently as he sipped his tea.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"And you ... well, you were heading, I mean ... to the city?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Concentrate, dammit, </span>
  </em>
  <span>Richard mentally kicked himself. He wasn’t making the best conversation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That's right. I’m hoping to find a job there, to help someone, or learn a trade,” the young man said vaguely. Richard was intrigued.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taron had made him </span>
  <em>
    <span>swear</span>
  </em>
  <span> to him that he would find someone to help him around the ranch, but he hadn’t done it. He needed the help, that was a fact, and this mystery visitor was young and looked strong.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Well ... I'm actually looking for someone who can work here with me. I need help running this place … it’s a huge job," Richard said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Really?" he asked excitedly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I won't be able to pay you much, but ..." Richard began apologetically.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Can you give me room and board instead?" the young man interrupted “I don’t really need the money.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You don't have a home, or family to go back to?" Richard asked, concerned.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His visitor shook his head as he chewed on a piece of cake. "My mother lives ... beyond the forest, and my father died a long time ago. It is only me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, I'm sorry," Richard said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"So, will you give it a try? Can I stay here with Henry? He’s a very good horse and we will work," he asked with a hopeful smile and expectant look.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard blushed. He was as sweet as the cake they were eating.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Seems like a perfect solution, sure," Richard said, looking at the young man with a feeling of wonder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, thank you, Richard!" he exclaimed happily, and then kept eating his cake. Richard was going to cut another slice and do the same, but suddenly he realized what the visitor had just said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"How do you know my name?" Richard asked abruptly, surprised.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"... you told it to me," he tried to say, obviously reaching for an answer.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard shook his head slowly. "No ... I’ve not told you my name, and you’ve not told me yours, either."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The young man shifted uncomfortably on the chair, like he’d been caught doing mischief.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"So … what </span>
  <em>
    <span>is</span>
  </em>
  <span> your name?" Richard asked skeptically.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I… I… am Froy."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>That name.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard felt himself seem to shrink in the chair. His heart began to pound, and he felt his body flush with a strange heat, somehow both comforting and terrifying.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard jumped up from the table, startling his visitor. He glanced around the room for a few seconds, and then strode up to his room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sorted through his drawer until he found the drawing, carefully stored, and pulled the paper out. He then looked up at his visitor, who had quietly joined him and was watching him worriedly from the door.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's … this is you ..." Richard murmured, holding the drawing out to him with shaking hands.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy approached and took the paper gently in his hands, looking at it carefully. "It … it does. It looks like me," he said nervously.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"It's you," Richard confirmed. "Turn it around. I wrote your name and description there ... and some strange things I didn’t understand ..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I ... I don't know what it says here," Froy said, blushing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You can’t read?" Richard asked with concern.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The young man named Froy shook his head, and Richard invited him to sit next to him at the foot of the bed. They were very close to each other, their arms were almost touching … and the smell, Froy smelled like a flower that he liked and didn't remember where it bloomed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard began to read with a trembling voice, he didn't even know why he was reading it, he knew that text by heart.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he finished he looked at Froy, who was staring back at him with tear-filled eyes and a sweet smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Did you write that about me?" Froy asked in a whisper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I ... I think so, I mean, it's my handwriting, but I don't remember writing it," Richard said honestly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That's because you don't remember anything that has to do with me," Froy explained. His voice was so gentle, it calmed Richard instantly. "That's why you don't remember writing it, but nevertheless … there it is. So now you know."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But ... here I wrote that you have pointed ears because you’re a fairy," Richard said, confused, looking at his ears. “And you do not.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy shook his head. "That is because I’m no longer a fairy."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But … how could you be? I mean you were... but now you’re not a fairy?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Ohh, you don't believe in us, do you?" Froy asked with a mischievous smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"No ... I don’t … I didn’t believe in fairies, but now you are here and ... I believe in you."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy smiled. "Richard… I can only say that there are wonderful things out there, things that men cannot understand, cannot explain… but we do exist."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But no person has ever really seen a fairy ..." Richard said, his rational brain trying to interrupt again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh yes, of course they have seen us. They have even touched us," Froy giggled, looking at Richard with a glint of mischief. "But then … they forget us."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"How?" Richard couldn’t understand. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You wrote it right there," Froy said, pointing to the words he couldn’t read.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"This? </span>
  <em>
    <span>That the forest has magic </span>
  </em>
  <span>... and that ..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Exactly that," Froy confirmed. "You knew you were going to forget me when you left the village, so you wrote that to yourself."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard frowned. "You know my village?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course I do,” Froy said, smiling as he spoke, full of memory. “Your small house is made of stone, but it’s always warm and cozy. The garden is huge, full of vegetables, and only a few wire fences separate it from the forest."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"How ..." Richard tried to ask, but was interrupted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"You came here because your father was sick, and your mother needed you," Froy continued. "And your sister, she was expecting a child."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"My father died seven months ago, and my sister's son is two years old ..." Richard gasped, accounting for the time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh, Richard ... I'm so sorry," Froy sighed. "I'm sorry it took me so long."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard could no longer contain his emotions, and he let out the tears he had been holding back for a long time. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Every day for two years I wondered when you would come," Richard finally sobbed, excited and overwhelmed. "I didn’t even know if you were real, and now that you're here, I ..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Shh ..." Froy said, putting a hand on his cheek. "Take your time."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard sank into Froy's touch, that warm, soft hand. "I've dreamed of you every night," he confessed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Tell me," Froy said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I really don't remember the details," he explained. "But I remember sensations, feelings, the touch, the softness, sighs, promises."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I still remember the last time we made love," Froy whispered. "You made me moan loud enough that you could hear me in your dreams ..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Dear God, Froy," Richard exhaled, feeling his body tremble.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard touched his cheek. It felt the same as in his dreams. His skin was so soft that he felt his fingertips tickle. "I want to get back all those moments with you," Richard said, desperate for him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That won't be possible, I'm sorry," Froy replied. "But we can start building new moments together … right now."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"What if I forget you again?" Richard asked fearfully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Never again … " Froy promised. "I came here to stay with you forever."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But how can you…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Shh... you will have time to understand everything," he said, putting his fingers on Richard’s lips so that he would stop talking. "For now … just kiss me now, please."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard hesitated for a moment. He had never kissed a man he had just met an hour ago, but apparently Froy wasn’t a man like any other. He wasn’t even entirely a human man, and apparently it wouldn’t be the first time Richard kissed him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took a breath, and leaned close. They started out slow, just a brush of their lips, so soft, so delicate.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But it seemed like that wasn't enough for Froy, and Richard remembered the part of his message where he described the fairy as extremely powerful and passionate. The evidence of those appeared when Froy deepened their kiss, and he risked licking his lips a little to ask permission to enter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Hmm ..." Richard muttered. "Why does this feel so right?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because we’re in the right place,” Froy replied. “Together.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard took him from both sides of his neck and caressed his flushed cheeks with his thumbs before burying himself back inside his mouth. His kiss tasted syrupy like vanilla, sweet like flowers … delicious and addictive.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was no going back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Richard didn’t understand anything about magic, about the fairies or the legends. He only understood that the young man in the drawing, the young man in his dreams was now in his arms, and that this time he wasn’t sleeping. This time he will not wake up to find himself alone and cold.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Froy was there, Froy was real, and Froy was his forever.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>:)</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>THANK YOU!!!!!!!!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Leave a comment and keep enjoying!</p>
<p>Thank you.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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